Far From Perfection
by CheddarFetta
Summary: What if H2o continued? What if everyone moved on in unexpected ways? What if their once perfect lives continued far from smoothly? How will they cope with unexpected & unplanned challenges and hurdles that life and their own mistakes throw at them?
1. Secrets & Lies

Hey everyone! It's new story time! I've got so many plans for this story and I'm very happy & excited with the plots for each character and how each storyline unfolds.

Several of my storyline ideas and events have been inspired from the TV show 'Packed to the Rafters' is rated 'M'. So although this story is rated 'T' presently, it may change later on down the track, depending on how deeply I go into a few of the upcoming events. This is probably going to be my most dramatic story I've written so just a warning with that too, but the storylines rock, I assure you!

Anyway, I'm sorry about my lack of updates with my other stories... life's been busy. You know how it goes. Plus, I've also been working on a collab story and have been focused on developing/establishing/writing this one a lot too.

So did any Aussies see The Logies on Sunday Night? Logies night's always a special night in my household (involving a 'girls night in' and munchies; I'd forgotten how good Lindt chocolate is!) and I must say that this year I had mixed emotions with the winners. I was absolutley devastated that Ryan Corr didn't take out an award for his performance as hilarious bogan-like Coby on Rafters (even my Dad who doesn't get into stuff like this at all was hoping he'd win), but I'm pleased for Hugh that his amazing acting on Rafters was rewarded plud I'm happy with both Packed to the Rafters & Dance Academy winning awards.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy my new story and athough this chapter isn't anywhere near as ground-breaking or dramatic as what's to come, it is the base or background in the story for Clewis.

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><p><strong>Chapter 1- Secrets and Lies<strong>

_Cleo's POV _

I leant against the side of the car with a sigh, relaxing for a mere moment before Lewis' head emerged again from where it had been furrowing in the boot. He passed me yet another box, this one open, visibly containing decorative pillows and some of our toiletries bags which were sticking out of the top. With difficulty, I changed my grasp of the box as I turned around to walk inside and dump the box.

"That's it" Lewis said from behind me. I sighed, thinking of all the unpacking that awaited us as I continued in my path.

Leaning the box against the door I put my foot against the bottom, resting the box on my leg as I twisted the door handle open. Walking in, yet again, I saw Kim coming down the stairs. I silently waited for the mockery.

"I still can't believe you're moving _back_ here" she said with a disgusted frown.

"I can't believe that you're_ still_ here" I bit back.

Dad walked out of the kitchen hearing our argument. "Nonsense girls. Both of you are always welcome here. Kim, you've made a good choice staying here for now, and Cleo, you and Lewis are wise to move back and get off to a good start financially."

I gave Dad a fake smile as he wrapped his arms around my back in a tight squeeze momentarily while I was on my way upstairs. Behind me, Lewis remained silent, following in my footsteps. He was too wise to get caught up in a fight between Kim & I, and he was to wise to meddle with one of Dad's lectures.

I entered my previously former, but now current childhood bedroom and plonked the box at the end of the bed, where it joined all it's other box friends that held all of mine & Lewis' possessions inside. Walking over to the bare bed, I sat on the end of it, joined by Lewis as he put the final box on top a pile of others in the corner of my, well our, room.

"I'm sorry Cleo" he said as he wrapped his arms around me in a hug, kissing my cheek.

"It's not your fault. I'm just as much to blame" I shrugged.

"Yeah, but still, I shouldn't have let it get this bad. I should've seen it coming."

"I feel guilty hiding everything from Dad & Sam" I said as I snuggled into my husband's arm, leaning on him as he rested his chin atop my head.

"Don't worry, we'll work it out" he added, in attempt to reassure me, tightening his grasp.

A faint smile threatened to cross my lips.

"Yeah we're a team" I said as I squeezed his hand that I'd been playing with.

Pressing one last kiss on top of my brunette locks, Lewis got off the bed. "We've got some unpacking to do!"

I smiled and got up, following Lewis.

Maybe things will be okay...

#

Walking downstairs several hours later, I walked into a shout.

"DAD!"

Frowning at the unexpected yell from Kim who was sitting on the lounge, I continued walking down.

"What is it Kim?" Dad asked, emerging from his study.

"Can you take me to the chemist?"

He replied with a frown. "Why?"

"I need to get earplugs. Cleo & Lewis' room is right across from mine."

I rolled my eyes and scoffed at my sister's immaturity as I sat down next to Lewis on the lounge, while he flicked through one of my Dad's fishing magazines. He'd stopped packing about half an hour before I did. "_Don't_ even go there Kimmy."

Looking at my husband who was totally engrossed on reading about 'DIY lures', I added to my reply. "Besides, just give Lewis a fishing magazine and I've lost him for a month."

"Fine" she shrugged, pausing calmly before she let out another unexpected yell. "DAD! Can you take me to the newsagency then?"

I smirked to myself at my younger sister's drama queen-ing, before sighing and grabbing a cushion next to me on the lounge, playing with the corners.

"Ten minutes and dinner will be ready" Sam said as she stuck her head into the room from the kitchen.

"Thanks Sam" I said politely as I picked up one of Kim's magazines off the coffee table and started flicking through the glossy pages.

A bright heading captured my attention, or more so, the title did.

'_Are You Ready For Marriage?' _

I skim read over the double page, before going back and reading it in more detail.

In theory, on paper and according to the article, Lewis, I and our relationship were ready for marriage, but practically, I'm beginning to doubt whether we were quite ready when we took the plunge.

"A bit late for that don't you think?" I heard a whisper from next to me say.

I looked at Lewis and looked at the article, softly laughing it off. "Those magazines are full of trash-talk. They're about as knowledgeable as a 5 year old!"

The man next to me smiled and kissed my cheek... forgetting that this was a controversial & potentially risky move in my childhood home.

"Lewis..." Dad warned, making me shift away from Lewis.

"Sorry Mr Sertori" he apologized, returning to his fish lure article.

"You can stop calling me Mr Sertori. You're a part of the family now."

Lewis nodded and looked up from his magazine with a confused frown. "Right... Dad?"

"Don't push it Lewis" Dad said warning Lewis again with a glare, which even made _me_ confused by what he wanted Lewis to address him as.

I returned to my magazine, turning the page quickly as if in a hope to turn away from my thoughts & fears too.

"Alright, dinner's ready" Sam yelled from the kitchen, prompting myself and the 3 others in the room to get up and move to the table that was in the process of being set by my step-mother.

"Looks good Sam" I said, observing the large lasagne dish sitting on the middle of the table.

Sam smiled, taking her seat next to Dad, across the table from Lewis and I. "Thanks Cleo."

"I agree. It looks great... much better than Cleo's cooking! Hopefully it tastes better too!" Lewis said with a smile as I playfully slapped his shoulder.

"Oh surely it can't be that bad!"

"No it isn't, her cooking's fine. Besides, who am I to complain?" Lewis explained with a smile as Sam dished the lasagne onto our plates.

"I'm surprised she didn't give you food poisoning" Kim sniped from her seat and the end of the table.

I clenched my jaw to stop myself from spitting a harsh remark back in response.

I knew that even though I am now a married woman, I'd still get told off by Dad about being nice to Kim, as well as a lecture from him about the fact that I've only got one sister so I should appreciate her.

"Honestly Kim, Cleo's not that bad at cooking" Lewis said politely defending me.

"Yeah. Those muffins you brought for the barbeque night a few weeks ago tasted great!" Sam added with a smile.

"That was a packet mix Sam. A sleeping monkey can't fail those..." I informed with a frown, prompting an awkward silence from the table as everyone chewed their lasagne.

"So when are you two going back to work?" Dad asked before he lifted another mouthful of lasagne into his mouth.

I looked at Lewis, who looked at me. "We're both going back tomorrow. We couldn't get any time off."

"That's annoying. Couldn't anyone else cover for either of you?" Dad asked with a slight frown of confusion.

"No. They said we didn't give them enough warning, so we only had today & yesterday to get moved in and unpack everything" Lewis informed them, with me adding another sentence. "It would've been good to have more time to get settled in properly, but I guess it was our own fault."

Dad nodded and the silence continued again as we all ate our dinner.

#

15 minutes later, everyone had finished and I stood up to start clearing the table.

"Cleo, Kim. You two have got the dishes tonight" Dad said.

I froze on the spot. I'd been used to Lewis automatically doing the dishes every night, so I had to quickly think of an excuse as I returned to my former nightly nightmare.

"Umm... I've got a really bad headache" I said as I massaged my temple, trying to add believability to my lie.

Dad frowned and opened his mouth to speak before Lewis stepped in. "It's okay Mr S, I can do the dishes for her. You go upstairs and rest Cleo."

I smiled as I left the room, realizing that unlike in my teenage years, I now had my husband as live-in backup.

Walking upstairs, I could hear my Dad sigh and say "Great. Here we go again..."

I guess that my Dad was right, but I also knew he was wrong. Some things had stayed exactly the same, but most things in our lives had changed dramatically. The parallels and similarities between the current time and the old stage of my life were so few, yet so many.

I didn't know where my life was headed from here on and I had no way of knowing whether my life would continue the way it had been, return to the way it used to be or follow a totally different path altogether.

I had no idea.

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><p><strong>So what did you think? Worth continuing? I guess it's kind of hard to tell considering you don't know what's coming up, but I'd still LOVE to know what you thought of the start. <strong>

**Next chapter: Will is faced with a blast from the past. **

**I've one hundred percent finished the next chap, so if you review, I'll upload it. Like I said before, the drama increases and intensifies much more and will continue going upwards from there.**


	2. Careful What You Wish For

Hey everyone. Wow! Thank you so much to all my reviewers and their reviews for the first chap! 14 reviews... wow, wow, wow! A huge thanks again! We'll pick up from where I left Clewis off in a few chapters time.

Anyway, I was hoping to update this sooner and shorten the gap between the 'pilot' chapter and the second, but it's so late due to uncontrollable issues (supreme school stress, sickness and a death in the family) as well as the normal stuff like school & work that make my life busy, and then to add to that I had a wedding to go to this weekend which meant a one night holiday and then I babysat a 2 year old and 3 year old today. Hence, I have about 7 hours of stuff I have to cram into 3/4 hours tonight. Be glad for this update! haha

Sorry for the vent, here's the chapter. Will's POV... strange for it not to be one of the girls, yeah I know, but it's crucial to how the events of the story and plots unfold. I'm also gonna try and have a quote relative to the chapter as I have done here.

Enjoy & please review. I appreciate them, and you all

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><p><em>"Be careful what you wish for...<em>_  
>... I guess there's a lot to be said for making the right wishes." <em>

**Rachel Rafter** - Packed to the Rafters

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><p><strong>Chapter 2 - Careful What You Wish For<strong>

**_Will's POV_**

It was a 40 something degree day (us guys don't check the weather) and Zane & I were lazing around under the heat of the radiating sun in the backyard of our shared place.

"Mate, this is the life." Zane smiled as he reclined further back on his beach chair, holding an ice-cold beer.

"You betcha!" I agreed with a grin, in-between sips of my own beer.

"Who needs chicks when we've got this?" Zane said, as I shot him a questioning glance, knowing that he was lying slightly, ignoring the thought of a certain fiery blonde girl he still loved.

"Yeah, right" I agreed hesitantly, both Zane & I knowing his statement wasn't a hundred percent accurate for me either.

So much had changed since our final year of high school.

Zane & I who previously couldn't stand each other, had grown close after finding some common ground. I'd even go as far as to call him my best mate...

A few months ago, we'd decided to rent a place together after I needed freedom and independence from Sophie, and Zane from his dad.

At the end of year 12, Zane's relationship with Rikki had already ended, but my own relationship with Bella had just begun, or progressed from being friends with hidden mutual feelings for each other.

That was another change.

Time and a lot of other things had passed in our previously burgeoning relationship which was no longer anything pleasant. I hadn't seen Bella since things ended nearly 18 months ago and Zane hadn't seen Rikki in just over two years after she strangely separated herself completely from Zane & I, only keeping in contact with the girls.

I know Lewis had told Zane bits & pieces that Cleo had told him about Rikki and what she was up to, but the two hadn't had direct contact in that time.

#

"I could do this all day" Zane sighed contently as he took another sip from his beer bottle, and swivelled down lower in his chair.

"Yeah, so could I, but unlike _some_ more fortunate,_ I_ have to go out and look for a job" I said, using every ounce of motivation in me to resist the temptation of hanging out with him and enjoying the sunshine and perfect weather.

"You're such a party pooper Will!" Zane bellowed out as I stood up, and quickly sculled the remaining drops of beer as I headed for the house to go and get ready.

I shook my head in annoyance as I ignored Zane's added pressure. I _really_ wanted to stay back and spend the rest of the day relaxing, but the common sense in me knew that I had to get a job if I even wanted a chance of living in comfortable luxury like this with Zane.

Zane noticed my ignorance and added "Where ya going again?"

I stopped as I lent against the frame of the sliding door. "I'm just gonna drop my resume into a places in the city. See how that goes" I said before walking inside to prepare to leave as well as getting away to reduce Zane's pressure.

#

Half an hour after I'd left Zane to enjoy the serenity of the perfect day on his own, I'd left the house and driven into the city to start handing out my resume. I'd basically thrown it anywhere that had an opening hours sign.

I was seriously that desperate.

Sure, the odd dive comps had given me a pretty decent amount of money, but they were so few & far between and weren't enough to live on.

I enjoyed sharing a place with Zane, but I always felt fairly pressured. He'd do nothing, yet cash would still roll into his account from his Dad automatically. I felt so embarrassed when it came to paying for the expensive drinks Zane would spontaneously or drunkenly order for us, leaving me in a tough situation of how I was going to pay for mine. That was only one case, with if we out to a club or bar, that's what would happen.

He didn't put pressure on me and he was reasonable about the fact that basically always, my share of the rent was late, but **I** didn't like it. It made me feel uncomfortable... like I was a charity case that could barely afford to pay rent or buy a drink.

It honestly sucked.

Because of all that, I had to find a job. Anything that had a regular pay roll would do the trick.

Anything.

Beggars can't be choosers.

#

I was walking out of a pub, looking ahead to see the next closest place I could go. It was nearing lunchtime, but I kept walking along, thinking that I'd just finish this road of shops before I'd stop somewhere for lunch.

I looked down at my stack of resume sheets, quickly flipping them over to see the front & back, subconsciously checking them.

I felt half of my body bump into someone else and I looked up to apologize, seeing a blonde dart down and pick up her phone that she'd dropped.

"So sorry!" I said as I watched her stand up, as my face met with hers.

"W...Will?" she said softly with a mixed expression.

I softly gasped upon realizing who the face belonged to.

"Bella."

I stood there, stunned, unable to move from feeling somewhat like I'd been winded.

I stared at her, moving my mouth stupidly with no words coming out as I took it all in slowly.

I looked up and down at her neat outfit. She wore a straight black skirt going just above the knees, with a darker than medium but lighter than navy, flowing, blue top. She had a thick black belt wrapped around her waist that matched her black heels and her blonde locks were slightly, but neatly curled, hanging loose around her face and below her shoulders.

She looked good. She always has.

I noticed she was wearing a lot more make up than she used to. A lot more.

"How are you?" she asked softly, at a volume just above a whisper.

"I'm fine... looking for a job" I said, awkwardly gesturing to the stack of resumes in my arms.

She nodded, expression-less.

"How about you? You look good."

"Thanks. Yeah, I'm fine too" she said, before looking down at the ground.

I fought the urge to ask her there and then all the questions that had piled up in my heart & mind over the last 18 months. I came to a compromise within myself. "Do you want to grab something to eat together? It's about lunchtime" I said, checking my phone just to make sure that a few hours hadn't totally passed without me knowing. "Just to catch up" I added in an effort to try and reassure her after I saw her look of uncertainty.

"I'm sorry Will. I don't think that's a good idea" she said with an apologetic frown.

"Why?" I asked gently, wanting to know her reasoning behind the rejection.

She took a deep breath and looked me in the eyes, before flinching away from my stare.

"I've got a boyfriend."

Those four words felt like they twisted a knife in my heart and could've killed me.

I stood there, slowly taking small breaths; they were the only thing keeping me alive right now. I felt a rush of emotions hit me painfully as I tried to process the information I'd just discovered. I felt the pain and my heartbreak of our breakup all over again.

She wasn't my Bella anymore. Well, she hadn't been for a long time, but now I knew she was someone else's Bella. It hurt. Someone else got to kiss her every day. Someone else got to spend hours upon hours with her every week. Someone else got to see her smile or laugh at the little things you said or did together. Someone else got to love the girl I had.

"I'm so sorry" she said as I silently watched her observing the ground and her feet.

Still feeling absolutely gutted, I tried again. "We can still have lunch can't we? It doesn't have to be anything. We can just talk and find out what's been happening in each other's lives. It's not like we don't _care_ about each other."

She bit her lip, appearing to consider my proposal.

"Alright. Just to catch up. Nothing else."

I gave her a small smile and nodded. "Yeah I understand."

"Okay, good. Anyway, I know a nice little cafe just around the corner from here. It's a 5 minute walk away. That alright?"

I nodded. "Yeah, sounds good" I said as she started walking in the direction she'd pointed to, and I followed behind her, both of us silent the whole walk.

When we arrived at the cafe and were shown to a seat. I had to fight the urge to go and pull out Bella's chair before she got there, like I always used to do when we were on dates. She'd think that was taking things too far and our lunch together would be over before it even begun.

As we sat, I grabbed the menu that was in front of me and flicked through it before looking up and noticing that Bella was just sitting there with her hands in her lap, not even touching her menu.

"What's up?" I asked.

"I know what I want."

"Yeah? What are you getting?"

"Eggs Benedict."

"Sounds good. You come here a lot?"

"Well it's only down the road from where I work so yeah I guess I do eat here a lot. They make good coffee too. "

I smiled slightly. Bella's coffee addiction seemed to have not mellowed over the time passed. That brought back a lot of memories for me so the thought was bittersweet.

"So what are you ordering?" she asked after I zoned out, thinking about some of those memories.

"Uh... what's the salt & pepper squid like?" I asked uncertainly, the squid the first thing that caught my after I looked back at the menu which I hadn't been paying attention to.

"I think that's good. I haven't had it in a while."

I nodded and a waiter came over to our table almost on cue.

"May I take your order?"

"Yeah, we'll have a Eggs Benedict and Salt & Pepper squid, thank you" I said.

"Drinks?" the waiter added as he hurriedly scrawled our meals on the small pad of paper he was holding.

"Lime soda water, please" I said, before looking at Bella to see what she wanted as she added "Skinny latte thanks."

With a quick nod, the waiter left instantaneously, leaving us in an awkward silence for about 10 seconds before I broke it.

"So you said you have a boyfriend..."

Across the table, she nodded and looked down at the serviette, playing with its white, creased corners.

"What's his name?"

"Dan."

I nodded, feeling a bit hurt upon the realization that sunk in and sunk deep. "How lo- How long have you been together?"

"7 months. It was 11 months to the day after we- we, yeah." I nodded, knowing the day she was alluding to well.

It was hurting me knowing the fact Bella had a new boyfriend, yet I found myself curious to know more about him and wanting to ask her more.

I looked at Bella who was biting her lip and checking her phone. She seemed really tense and edgy. Ever since we'd bumped into each other she had, but I guess she wasn't expecting to bump into me like she had. I wasn't at all prepared for it either.

"What are you doing work-wise?"

"I studied at Uni for a while, but now I've got a job as a creative designer. It's basically graphic design, but it's like designing ads and all that. I also go out and do surveys and research on the promotional campaigns."

"Creative designer" I repeated. "You'd like that."

She nodded stiffly, but with a small smile. "Yeah I do. What are you up to these days?"

"Stuff all. That's why I'm looking for a job."

She nodded with a frown. "What happened to diving?"

"It never really took off again after I declined that sponsorship and quit doing comps. Not surprising though. I didn't put any effort into training and just did the bare minimum. Problem is that I was stupid listening to Sophie and I'd put all my eggs in the one basket. I didn't have anything else to fall back on which has created a few difficulties. Anyway, what happened to singing?"

"Uh... a couple of things just came up and I stopped doing gigs with the band. I miss it though."

"Surely you could've found a way around whatever it was."

"It's easier said than done Will. You don't know the circumstances" Bella said with a frown and I nodded.

I really wanted to know what was going on or what happened, but the way she tiptoed around the matter told me she obviously didn't want to discuss it with me, but I was still nonetheless curious.

The waiter returned with two plates and two glasses, putting the appropriate in front of us.

"So that's enough about me. What about yourself? You said you were looking for a job, but what else?" she asked seeming a bit calmer than she had been earlier. Less edgy too.

"Well, depends on what you want to know" I said as I cut my squid up.

"Got a girlfriend?" she asked bluntly and I replied with an answer equally as blunt. "Nope."

"So you're single?" she confirmed unbelievingly.

"Yup. These days I'm living up the bachelor life with Zane."

"You & Zane live together? Really? I'm surprised you even talk to each other willingly!"

"Yeah, it's funny how things change like that."

"It is" she agreed, putting her knife and fork down and checking her phone again.

"Does your break end soon, or do you need to be somewhere or something?"

"Wha-?" she started asking, before my question clicked in her head. "No, it's just I'm keeping an eye on time, you know."

I nodded as I chewed a chip.

I changed the conversation's direction, making it somewhat risky, but honest.

"It's good to see you again Bella. It's nice hearing how you are and where you're at."

She nodded, but with a slight frown and look of insecurity. "I know. I feel the same. I mean, I still care _about_ you Will. I always will, but I just don't care _for_ you anymore. Things have changed, okay? We've both changed."

I'd dreamed about meeting up with her again countless times before, but all my fantasies were unrealistic. They all resulted, one way or another with a happy ending between us. That wasn't reality. This, right here, right now, was reality and Bella was reminding me things were definitely, 110% off, as they had been for the last 18 months.

No happy ending here. Not even the chance of one.

"I should get going" she said getting out of her seat as she spoke, probably so that she was gone before I had a chance to try and convince her to stay.

"But you haven't finished eating!" I said standing up too and pointing to her food.

"I'm not hungry anymore. Goodbye Will" she said, grabbing her handbag and walking off.

I sighed, resting my arms on the table and running my hands through my hair. I took one last skull of my drink before getting up to pay, leaving our two unfinished lunches and trying to remember what I was doing at the city in the first place...

As I walked out, I thought about how that was _not_ the way I wanted our first reunion to end. All my wishes were just wishes... something I wanted to happen, but were about as realistic as a fairytale.

I'd made my bed, now I had to lie in it. No amount of wishes would change the past and it just sucks I have to learn that the hard way.

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><p><strong>So that's chapter 2! What did you think? What happened in the past? What's Bella hiding? Do the other girls know about it? Find out more and have more questions raised in the next chap.<strong>

**Blonde moment of the day. I was in the widely known and very popular wine region of my state (that equals a lot of wineries/vineyards) for the wedding and we were driving around when my sister asks: "What's with all the wine stuff here?" ... we're not related. **

**Anyway, please review and let me know what you thought. My next update's basically ready too, but I'm going to try and update When I Grow Up first, BUT if I get enough for this chapter, then I'll be inclined and inspired to finish and update my third chapter first.**

**Preview of next chapter: The title of the chap says it all... 'How Did We Get Here?' **

**Have an awesome day & don't forget to review!**


	3. How Did We Get Here?

**A/N - So... Terrible, awful, dreadful day. Need to escape. Hence an update. **

**I'm not really happy with this chapter because I wanted it to be much longer, but I've had this written and tossing around in my brain scanning for new ideas for about 3 weeks now. Anyway, I realized nothing else was coming to me, but I needed to include this chap this way as it's essential to the plot and the secrecy, so here I am biting the bullet and pressing those buttons that are leading you to read this. **

**Enjoy & please review. It has the high chance of making me feel a teeny, tiny bit better, just like all the reviewers of chap 1 & 2 did (thank you btw). . .**

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><p><em>You enter a relationship whole, and leave it only half...<em>

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><p><strong>Chapter 3 – How Did We Get Here? <strong>

_Bella's POV _

I stood up from the table and grabbed my handbag before turning to walk away.

After paying, I left the cafe and didn't look back.

I felt guilty for just getting up and leaving like that, but I shoved those regrets and emotions to the back of my mind, trying to focus on the current stresses of work that I'd been fretting about prior to bumping into Will.

Will.

Will, Will, Will. That friggin' guy just kept bouncing back into my mind.

I'll admit it. It was good to see him and know that he was alright, but it just brought back every ounce of hurt and pain that I'd suffered over our unforgettable break up. The re-encounter brought everything back to the surface, re-opening old wounds that I mistakenly thought had healed over. I thought that enough time had gone by, and when I agreed to catching up over lunch, I thought that I would be okay.

I hadn't expected to just bump into him like that, and my mind & heart had been left a wreck of nerves.

Oh goodness, then there was the inner-guilt. That guilt clouded my thoughts and I was having difficulty distinguishing whether hiding my present life was really as bad as my guilt was making it out to be.

Why was I still dwelling on him? Will cared. I knew that. He knew that. The waiter serving us knew that. Maybe it was because he does care that I stopped myself from saying anything. Just because he cares, it doesn't mean I'm able to trust him. Especially not after just bumping into him after all that time.

Of course I had Dan now, and I loved him and I was grateful for that, but Will was still such a big part of my past and how I got to where I am today. It's not that I still loved Will, but as I said to him, I did still care about him. I always will, and with our history, it's only natural that I would. Back then, we were everything to each other. Our worlds revolved around each other.

Looking back to the past from where me & my messes are in life right now, it's hard to believe that things used to be so perfect.

#

I walked through the company's office, headed for my own office, that I shared with my partner whom I worked on campaigns and design projects with.

I opened the door and straight over to my desk, ignoring Amy who looked up from her draft logo sketching that she had been working diligently at before I entered the room. I didn't see her watching me as I sat down at my desk and hold my head which fell into my cupped hands.

"You okay Bel?" Amy Reed, asked softly, pushing a lock of stray blonde hair away from her eyes, still looking up at me from her work.

"Yeah I'm fine" I said as I lifted my head up and started randomly clicking away on my computer.

I searched through the hard drive for some clue of something that would help jot my memory to what I had been busy & stressed with before my lunchbreak. I honestly couldn't remember for the life of me what it was.

Ha! I had to email the advertising from mine and Amy's latest campaign to my boss.

I found the file and sent the email which would determine the funding for our newest project. Feedback from this would then in turn decide the financial balance we had to play with, and the profit we would have to make for not only the client, but also ourselves.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing. Why?" I said in an attempt to play coy as I looked up at Amy.

"Come on Bella! I wasn't born yesterday! You were grinding your teeth. You only do that when we're like a _mile_ behind deadlines, which we're not. What happened?" she said with a serious look.

I sighed and succumbed to my friend's pressure. Talking was good I guess.

"I just bumped into my ex during lunch break" I explained with a frown.

Amy's face scrunched up in pitiful pain. "Hell. That's never fun."

I nodded. "Exactly. Plus it was the first time I've seen him since the break up."

"Ouch. Are you okay?"

My lips attempted a smile. "Yeah I'm fine. Just feeling a little shook up."

As I waited for the email to send and process, I looked at Amy who continued with the logo sketch as she had been, before she looked up at me again with a smirk.

"So... is he hot? What's his name?"

I rolled my eyes with a smile at Amy.

Amy Reed _had_ to be the most boy-orientated girl I knew.

"His name's Will, and yeah... I'd classify him as that."

She nodded. "Mmm, Will. Good name."

I looked at her strangely. "Uh... What happened to Heath?"

She shrugged. "Broke it off. He had an axolotl - called Kevin."

"You dumped him because of his pet?"

"Yup. I gave him an ultimatum and all. It was either me or Kevin."

I stifled my laughter.

"So is your ex single?" she said changing the subject back around again.

"Surprisingly, yeah he said he is."

"Mmm... No chance you're randomly gonna bump into him again, Bella?" Amy said with a smirk, in a way which could be interpreted as a joke, but I knew her better than that.

"I hope not, but you never know. How can you do it anyway?"

"Do what?" she asked as the blondes head pricked up from her sketch again in curiosity.

"Bounce back so easily from guys. I could never be like that."

"I just don't attach myself in relationships... I'm too uncommitted I guess."

"I think I'm the total opposite. I wear my heart on my sleeve. Like I'm surprised I didn't crack completely today. I broke up with Will like a year and a half ago, but everything's still feels so fresh and painful."

"Maybe it's not you so much, but rather your relationship."

Amy's words triggered the haunting echo of the words run through my mind. The bitter words, followed by a final slam of the door as we yelled at each other, on the now second to last day I saw Will...

_"If you loved me, then that wouldn't be a problem!" _

"_If you loved me, then you wouldn't be saying that!"_

"_Well then maybe I don't!"_

"_Maybe you're right..."  
><em>

I shuddered as I returned to the present. Amy was looking at me weirdly and I realized she must've been watching me as I zoned out.

"Are you sure you're okay? You're acting really... odd today."

I nodded with a smile. "I'm fine Ames. I just need to get back to work."

She gave me an uncertain look and nod, while I got up on a mission.

"Coffee?"

"When have I ever said no to that?" she said with a smile.

I laughed slightly as I left the room to collect the elixir of life, which would get us through the final few hours before knock-off at 5.

Amy was a year younger than me, but we were still very close. Although her natural personality and inclination was to approach projects in a laid back manner, she has tried to push herself as she's the youngest in the company, which can rub some others up the wrong way when she's got such a cool, 'she'll be right' attitude. Saying that, she's good at what she does. That attitude plays to her advantage so that she doesn't hurry things, just in order for them to be finished, regardless of the end result.

As for a friendship with Amy outside of work, we go to bars or parties together a fair bit and sometimes she'll tag along with Daniel and I when we go out.

I'd call her a friend, or even a close friend, but just not a close friend who knew **everything** about me. Not many people do these days. However, I think the privacy was mutual. I was definite that Amy didn't tell me everything, not that I minded overly, just my over-imagination and curiosity kicked in sometimes.

I walked away from the company coffee machine, having produced the two lattes we desired.

Entering the room, I placed one of the disposable cups on the desk in the middle of the room where Amy was still sketching. She thanked me, before continuing to concentrate on the drafted pencil lines she was producing.

I took the other back to my desk and sat down, checking whether my boss had replied to the email I'd sent 20 minutes earlier.

"Oh by the way, I think you got a text."

I snatched my phone off my desk, opening and reading the new message from Dan.

**To: Bella**  
><strong>From: Daniel<strong>

'_Hey babe. I can pick her up. Hope ur havin a gd day... Luv ya xx_

I smiled and replied simply to the message.

**To: Daniel**  
><strong>From: Bella<strong>

_K, thanks. Cya 2nite xox_

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><p><strong>Personally, I'm not one-hundred percent happy with that chapter, but it was overly difficult to write from Bella's POV and keep her secrets hidden, which would undoubtedly have come across in an unfiltered version of her thoughts after bumping into Will. <strong>**I could've spilled some of the secrets, but nope, I'm evil and I'm wanting an intriguing, mysterious story, which would totally be ruined if I wrote everything Bella _really_ would be thinking about. Sorry. It's for yours, mine and the stories advantage.**

**Also, I didn't give much away on the Wella breakup either, sorry, but there's an appropriate time and place for everything... **

**The next chapter will be Zane's POV. Slightly ligher, but still containing a few twists along the way... However, before we face Bachelor Bennett, no doubtedly covering Rikki too, please review this chap and make my day. **


	4. Putting The House In Order

**So! Finally another update. My non-relevant words of wisdom for this chapter ... Avoid year 10 at all costs. **

**Anyway, thank you so much for all your lovely, lovely reviews! I'm totally in love with writing and planning this story and all of your reviews make me feel so much happier. I hope this chapter lives up to all of your standards too. **

**Would love to know what you thought of this chapter too... now sit back and enjoy! xxooxx**

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><p><strong>Chapter 4 – Putting the House in Order<strong>

_Zane's POV_

I was scanning the Foxtel guide when my bubble of silence popped from the sound of the front door opening, before slamming shut again seconds later.

Momentarily turning around sub-consciously, I witnessed Will stomp in, looking seriously unhappy. As he flopped down onto the lounge next to the one I was occupying, I looked up from the guide.

"How'd it go?"

"Fine."

"What's up with the Kyle-Sandilands-in-a-grump attitude then?"

"Shut up" Will said, shooting me an only _semi_-deserved glare.

"Okay, being serious now. What's up?"

"I bumped into Bella" he said with a swowl.

I furrowed my eyebrows. "Hang on... do you mean Bella-from-the-party-last-week, Bella or Bella-your-ex, Bella?"

"Second one."

"Oh... gotcha now... How was it?"

"Awkward" Will frowned. "_Really_ awkward."

"How was she?"

"Fine, I think. It just felt like I couldn't read her nowhere near as well as I could before."

"What do you mean?" I asked not understanding which way he meant that. When Will was with Bella, we still hated each others guts, so I never had much to do with either of them and my entire understanding I'd had of their relationship was only from the snippets that Will had told me.

"I don't know, but all I got the gist of was that she was hiding something and that she was cutting corners in some of our conversations. It was all very weird- and awkward."

I nodded silently, really not knowing what to do or say next. I'm not wired to be emotionally intuitive like that. Most guys aren't. However, I guess us guys do have one man-to-man default setting...

"Want a beer?"

Will nodded his head slightly and I got off the couch to cater our needs, grabbing 2 beers from the fridge.

I tossed the bottle to Will, who opened the bottle swiftly as he caught it.

"So what'd you get up to while I was gone?" he asked me just after he swallowed his first mouthful

"What happened in those hours, stays in those hours" I smirked jokingly, un-admittedly attempting to pump up the intrigue and make my spare time sound better than what it really was.

Will read me like a book. His eye roll was evidence of that, but his dissection of my statement that had followed concretely proved it.

"What you really mean is that you had another couple of beers –enough that you were over the limit and couldn't go out anywhere- so you stayed home and played Gran Tourismo which I'm sure you only just turned off."

I opened my mouth, which appeared fish-like, moving open and shut soundlessly as I considered my excuses to explain to Will, but rationalizing the extreme stupidity of each before it had escaped.

"Zane you look like an idiot" Will said with a slither of amusement before proceeding with another mouthful of beer.

"Shut up" I said gruffly, before I changed my tune. "Now for some good news, grumpy, the agent emailed and said someone's interested in checking the place out to rent that extra bedroom. They're coming tomorrow at 2."

"That's great. Even better since we only had the ad in for a week, right?"

I pretended to cough as I 'swallowed' my currently non-existant mouthful of beer. "Uh yep... well something like that anyway. Thing is, it might've been a bit more like 3 days..."

My housemate let out an annoyed groan. "You only put it in on Monday? Zane!"

"Hey! At least we've got a potential housemate, don't we?" I said, in my successful attempt to save myself from a lecture.

Taking a moment to consider my point, Will succumbed and let his opportunity pass. "Alright. You're off the hook – this time. So two tomorrow, yeah?"

"Yeah. Leaves plenty of time to still have a sleep-in before then" I grinned.

"No way. What are you talking about?"

"Well if they get here at two, we can get up at one and-" I started explaining before being cut off.

"No mate. A sleep-in is out of the question for tomorrow. We need to impress, and in case you haven't looked around recently, I'll remind you that even a mentally retarded monkey would be put off by the sight of the place."

"It's not _that_ bad Will..."

"Not that bad? The bottles from last month's party are still sitting on the bench like they're ornaments and I found ranga hairs in the shower this morning! When was the last time a red–head used _our_ shower? Sophie's never stayed here before!"

"So your point is..."

"That we need to impress, so we need to clean!"

"Ouch! That 'c' word is killing my ears here!" I said, acting out a wince of pain for my charade.

"Toughen up. Besides, if we clean this one time and impress them enough, then if it's a chick, we'll never have to cook or clean again and if it's another bloke then we can con him into cleaning since he'd be the newest and would have the lowest place in the household! It'll be worth it Zane!"

I caught on with what Will was implying, nodding visibly. "Good point... Alright, so what do we need to do?"

"Clean."

I rolled my eyes, already feeling irritable from the prospect of having to clean. "No kidding, but what & how?"

"Mostly focus on doing downstairs. They probably won't take more than a glance at our rooms."

"Okay. What've we gotta do down here then?"

"You can start by taking our "ornaments" out to the recycle."

I nodded and grabbed a garbage bag, tossing the dozens of varying brand beer bottles into it. Within seconds I felt like my work was paying off.

"Well, well, well! Who knew we had a kitchen bench under here! I was tempted to call the builders and complain that they'd forgotten ours" I joked, throwing the swollen garbage bag over my shoulder and walking outside to ditch it.

Walking back inside, I walked over to Will who was flicking through his wallet and grabbing his car keys off the entry table.

"Bailing on me already?"

"Yeah totally. I'm just gonna head out and get a few cleaning bits."

"Don't we have sponges and sprays or whatever?"

"Sort of... the sponges were mouldy and I swear the bottle of Metho_ wasn't_ Metho..."

"Charming."

"I know, so I'm gonna go get new everything. I really don't trust our household's supply of cleaning products."

I nodded and Will left.

Feeling a surge of unexpected enthusiasm, I decided to wash the benches... using one of Will's clean shirts. I mean, it's kind of pointless cleaning with a mouldy & useless sponge, right? That's how I was justifying my actions anyway.

#

An hour later, I gave myself a double surprise when I saw the time on my iPhone, but the bigger part of surprise came when I realized that I'd _actually_ spent the last hour cleaning! How I'd done it with no cleaning products was probably best kept a secret from Will.

Speak of the devil. I heard Will walk in and looked up to see him walk in, carrying three stuffed-full, green environmental shopping bags.

"Did you take out shares in Pine-O-Clean or something?" I joked as I scanned through the bags filled with more bottles, sprays, polishes and sealed sponge packets than I'd known to be possible.

Pulling out a window spray bottle, I questioned Will. "Since when did you care whether our windows were see-through or not?"

Will rolled his eyes. "Impress, remember?"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I get the picture."

"Alright. We should hit the bathroom next."

"Dibs you do it."

"No way! Half the bathroom gross-ness is your fault Zane!"

"Oh yeah? What exactly?"

"I really don't wanna go there... "

"Well you can do it then!"

Will scrunched his face up in disgust. "No!"

"Fine, I'll race you on it."

"Fine" Will agreed and we both made our way over to the PlayStation 3 from the kitchen to decide who the bathroom's cleaner fate would lie in the hands of.

#

We played our game of Gran Tourismo, determining that Will had drawn the short straw and lost, consequently being forced to take the dirty job, much to my joy and relief. However, after the deciding game had been played and ended, we didn't stop. We didn't stop till there was two empty stomachs that got in the way of our game-playing at 9pm.

"If I get off the couch, I honestly feel like I could snap from malnutrition."

Will rolled his eyes, muttering something to himself as he stood up, walking over to his mobile. "Supreme or Meat Lovers?"

"Meat lovers. Need meat." I groaned, trying not to move a single, lazy muscle.

Will didn't reply and the next thing I heard was him calling in our delivery order.

"Forty minutes" Will said, stating the wait simply. "Suppose we should start cleaning again..."

"Forget it. I can't move without food."

With my head slumped back against the lounge, in my peripheral vision I witnessed Will nod in response.

The two of us remained like that, for the 'forty minutes', which translates into an hour in Fast Food time. When it had finally arrived, our stomachs obviously didn't do the talking, while we had a 2 minute debate about who would get up and get the pizza, just managing to stop the delivery guy as he was getting in his car to leave.

The hour wait was close to pointless after the 2 ordered pizzas were obliterated and had vanished off the face of the earth within 7 minutes. The only evidence that there had even been any pizza's were our 2 full bellies and the pizza boxes, which under 6 hours ago would've just blended in with the pile of various other boxes that I'd cleared out, being identical to those two, just a lot less fresh.

Despite our best intentions of an early night in order to wake up bright & early to finish the cleaning we'd started, the time slipped through our fingers, reaching 2:30am before we remembered our intentions.

The second part of our good intentions was to wake up bright and early... way earlier than 11am.

"ZANE! GET UP! NOW!" Will yelled, unexpectedly awakening me, with the element of surprise enhanced by the noise from my door flinging opening and slamming shut in under 5 seconds.

I rolled over in bed, turning away from the noisy ruckus that my housemate was making, to face my alarm clock that projected the wicked combination of numbers. 11:19am.

I bolted up from my bed, pulling half of my quilt along with me that had straddled itself to my legs. Untangling myself from the linen, I ran downstairs to where Will was throwing the remains of our dinner and beers into yet another garbage bag.

"Can you mop the kitchen?" Will asked frantically, although, I knew if I wanted to keep my friendship with Will I didn't have much choice in the option and it was more of a statement.

Nearly jogging, I threw cupboard doors open and shut again, trying to find our mop... if we had one.

5 minutes later, I'd found something that resembled a mop, but was covered in cobwebs and mothballs, and I'm not even going to start about the bucket.

Yelling overtop of the vacuum cleaner that Will was sliding around unevenly, I tried to get his attention. "WILL! The mop's outta action!"

Turning it off momentarily, he sighed. "Okay. I'll vacuum it. Just make our beds then. I cleaned mine & the spare rooms yesterday."

Running upstairs, I obeyed Will, even though I couldn't remember the last time I'd made my own bed. That was the beauty of living on your own... until it came to the crunch in situations like today.

I raced back downstairs to get more orders from Will. I didn't care if he was being the leader for once. He at least _acted_ as though he knew what he was doing and talking about, and it was working well so we continued like that for another hour until the ill-fated sound of the doorbell flooded the house.

Walking out to Will, we both walked towards the door, while he tried reassuring me, thinking on the same wavelength. "Don't worry. It's probably just Sophie dropping in or something."

But as we opened the door, we weren't met with Will's sister or my Dad which was a thought that had passed through my mind.

"I know, I know I'm late" said the blonde as she scurried through her bag for something, and by the time her head looked up again, I had realized who she was.

For about 10 seconds, Will, Rikki and I adjusted to the realization of who was standing in front of each other.

"I'm sorry; I think I've got the wrong address. I must've taken a wrong turn at Cheats Corner and ended up on Jerk Drive" Rikki spat out at us with a glare, before turning around and starting to walk off.

Immediately I bolted after her.

"Rikki! Rikki wait!"

I reached out to grab her wrist and anchor us to the spot, but she was already turning around to face me again.

"5 minutes ago you were out of my life and in another 5 minutes you will be out of it again. End of story. Bye."

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><p><strong>My aim was for this chapter to be longer than what it was, but due to lack of time and desperation to update this, I decided to leave it there. Also, it's a good, slightly unusual, but good place to write Rikki's POV from in the next chapter. But until then, I'd love to know what you thought of Zane, Zane &amp; Will's cavemen-ness and the bitter reunion with Rikki. <strong>

**Next chapter, as I mentioned is Rikki's POV and it hints at her own hidden heartache. Also, she's in a tough situation and you'll find out what's happened in her life since season 3 ended. That chapter will have an oh-so lovely cliffhanger ;) Can't wait. Can you? Review and inspire yours truly! **


	5. Home Matters

**Hello! Finally, another hopefully wonderful chapter of Far From Perfection! Firstly, I'd just like to give everyone who has reviewed so far, a massive thank you! 62 reviews and this only chapter 5, wow! I really hope you all continue to enjoy it so much. Because I knew many of you were looking forward to Rikki's chapter, I decided to make it a lot longer than I've made my other ones so far. **

**Where the chapter starts, it skips a bit from where chapter 4 ended with Rikki arriving at Will & Zane's place, but further into the story there's a flashback that explains a lot. **

**I really hope you love it, and regardless, I would love to know what you all thought xx**

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><p>Men! You can't live with 'em and you can't shoot 'em<strong> - <em>Becky Howard, McLeod's Daughters<em>**

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><p><strong>Chapter 5 – Home Matters<strong>

Rikki's POV

I'm in.

Me along with my 4 bags which represented the entire material life of Rikki Chadwick.

4 bags.

The majority of people came home from shopping with 4 bags. Not their whole life.

There was 2 light knocks that vibrated against the wood of my partially opened door.

"Unless it's Steve Martin or Lincoln Lewis, go away."

Not expecting either of my choices, I wasn't fazed when the door opened, revealing Will.

"Sorry, no can do. But seriously, Rikki? Steve Martin?" Will asked, cringing at me as he leant against the doorframe that he was standing next to.

"He's better than you two."

"Ouch."

"Richer as well..."

Will rolled his eyes. "Okay, I didn't come up here to discuss the perks of Steve Martin."

"Good for you." I knew that Will was trying to lead me onto the path of asking "Oh, why did you come up then?" but I was playing under my own rules, not his.

"I came up to see if you wanted a tour of the house" he stated regardless of the fact that I didn't ask him what he wanted me to.

"A tour? What do I need to know? My natural instincts will lead me to the fridge, my sensor will lead me to the bathroom, the noise from you guys stupid game will lead me to the lounge room and the stench will lead me _away_ from you guys rooms. What more do I need to know?"

Will rolled his eyes again. "I'm sorry Rikki. I was just _trying _to be nice. We're all living together, it's better to get along with each other rather than start a World War III."

"Like I care, and sweet talking isn't going to change the jerk you were Will."

"But it wasn't my fault Rikki! Why doesn't anyone listen to me or my side of the story?" he said appearing to become rapidly frustrated.

"Right, so whose fault was it then? Santa Clause?"

"Whoever's fault it was doesn't matter. It's got nothing to do with this."

"Go."

"You're not in control here! You're just one part of a shared household, Rikki."

"JUST GET OUT WILL!"

Will sighed, turned around and shut the door as he walked off.

I took a deep breath, before resuming my unpacking which really wouldn't take me that long.

I'd gotten through my clothes and underwear, carelessly throwing them inside cupboards, when I'd reached that brown bag that had been haunting me daily, without fail for the past two months. I took a deep breath, before getting that churning, washing-machine-in-my-gut feeling that I'd felt every time I'd touched it or thought about it. I snatched the bag up and hurried over to the largest wardrobe in the room, dropping it into place in the back corner and closing the door as fast as I physically could.

Panting heavily, I leant against wardrobe, trying to reason with myself to make me feel better about my total cowering. I wasn't being big, brave, courageous Rikki Chadwick, just tearing the bag open and moving on with life. I just couldn't do it. Every single day for the last 47 days, I've been telling myself; "Tomorrow. I'll do it tomorrow. No excuses this time." But every morning, tomorrow came, just to become yesterday.

Realizing my breathing was back to normal, I inhaled one last deep breath to stabilize my breathing, before I went downstairs.

The loud screeches of simulated car tyres echoed throughout the lower level of the house and I squinted, making my way into the kitchen.

Zane was sitting on the breakfast bench in the kitchen, drinking a beer and watching Will who appeared uptight from the adrenaline rush, determinedly focused on the game he was playing.

I saw Zane look up at me as I was scanning the room, coincidentally when my eyes were on him. Well the area of the room he was in anyway. I awkwardly changed my focus to the fridge, barrelling straight on towards it.

As I scanned the first, then second and third shelves, I was slightly thrown from the unexpected 'WOOP!' coming from the next room over.

Peering out from the fridge, I saw Will throwing his arms up in the air, before belting out into a little victory dance. Zane got off the bench, walking over to him and starting to detest, throwing his hands around and babbling on with his mannerisms that made him look like an annoyed Greek, even though I couldn't tell what the two were saying to each other.

Taking one last look, I shut the fridge door on the beer, milk, block of chocolate and Coke Zero with 'ZANE'S' imprinted on it as largely as it could be in permanent texta, and the microwave meal, Kit-Kat and Sushi labelled similarly with 'WILL'S', realizing that neither was a feasible option for me.

"Hey Rikki, we're getting Chinese for dinner tonight and we reckon it'd be nice to eat together communally. Wanna join us?" Zane asked, sounding marginally sincere.

"No. I've already got plans for dinner and I'm just living here and sleeping under this roof. I don't give a damn about being communal or whatever you were implying. Just because we all live together, doesn't mean we're friends."

Will smirked, shooting a look at Zane. "Ooh, have you got a boyfriend now?"

"Maybe. Maybe not."

"Well who are you going out with then?" Zane asked with a serious frown.

"Just the girls, but even that's none of your business... Grandpa."

I was expecting an argument or whinge from Zane in his defence and not being a Grandpa, but it was Will who piped up next.

"The girls? Will Bella be there?"

"None of your business!"

"Rikki, please just tell me."

"No Will. I'm not doing you any favours! With any other housemate you wouldn't find out where your ex is, and that's going to be no different with me. End of story."

I stormed out of the room, going back up to my bedroom. I got changed into a figure-hugging cocktail dress, applied some black mascara, foundation, blush and a not-quite-coral lipstick, and grabbed my heels and bag, coming back downstairs within 10 minutes later.

I didn't bother saying goodbye to the boys who were back on the lounge, now watching a movie as I left.

#

"Hey! We're over here" Cleo said as she walked over to me from where she was sitting at a table under the balcony of a club.

I followed her over and dropped my handbag on the stool, as Cleo gave me a quick hug.

"How are you? Have you heard from Bella whether she's coming tonight?"

Sitting down again, Cleo smiled "I'm great. And yeah, she's inside getting a drink."

"Oh okay. How long have you guys been here?"

"Well I've been here for nearly half an hour and Bella got here about 15 minutes ago" she said as she swished her drink around in the cocktail glass.

I nodded and trawled through my handbag for my metallic purse that was somewhere inside it. I snatched it up the second I laid my hands on it. "Can you look after my bag for a sec, Cleo? I'll be right back – I just need a drink."

She nodded, before awkwardly shuffling her stool closer towards my handbag, preparing to babysit the inanimate object for me.

As I waltzed confidently inside to the bar, I noticed a petite blonde in a white cocktail dress with her recognizable hair pinned up, facing the bar and appearing to be waiting for a drink.

"Hey stranger" I said feigning the deepest voice that I could, while pouncing my hands onto the back of Bella's bare shoulders.

Feeling her jump under my grip, she turned around and slapped my hands off.

"Rikki! Don't do that again" she warned me seriously.

I resisted the urge to laugh, sensing how annoyed Bella was with me from my little joke.

"Guilty conscience there?" I joked with a smirk, just getting an eye roll in response. "So how's things anyway?"

"Terrible. That's the reason I snapped at you. Sorry about that."

"I deserved it. What's up?"

"Work's been a bit full on, I saw Will for the first time a couple of days ago, Amy's sharing her cold with me and to top that all off, Dan's leaving to go to Cairns for two, frickin weeks."

"Wow. Poor you. Anything I can do?"

"Nah, don't worry about me. I haven't got a patch on what you're going through. How have you been coping the last few days anyway? I'm sorry; I've been meaning to call and touch bases with you sooner, but with everything going on I didn't get around to it."

"Well I finally found a place, so that's good news I guess."

"That's great Rikki!" Bella said with an enthusiastic smile. "Where is it?"

"It's actually about a block away from your apartment. Malak Street."

"Really? Awesome! That's like right in-between Amy's place and mine.

"Okay." I said, not that excited about it. I'd only met Amy a couple of times and I hadn't really connected with her that well. But then again, I take ages to connect with anyone, so maybe it was just a matter of time. Regardless, I'm not going to go the extra mile chasing her up for a friendship.

"All we need to do now is convince Cleo & Lewis to move back to where they were living before, or near there and then we're all basically living on each other's doorsteps!"

"Yeah... doorsteps... five minutes away!" I said laughing at her enthusiasm that overruled her logic.

Joining in with a light laugh, she rolled her eyes. "You know what I mean!"

I nodded and ordered a drink as Bella was handed hers.

"So tell me about it anyway. House? Apartment? Flat? Give me details!"

I took a deep breath to prepare myself to tell Bella all about how I was living with Zane & Will and the irony of it all. Well, I prepared myself until I realized if I said anything to her about it, and about living with Will especially, then I doubt she'd be coming over to visit anytime soon. But was I lying if I didn't tell her about the guys? I didn't think so, but Bella might not see it that way.

"It's a house; you know that cream-coloured one on the corner? I share it with a couple of guys. There's no way I could afford something like that on my own."

Bella cringed slightly. "Eugh. A shared house? You're brave. I'd be paranoid that I was living with an axe-murderer or a rapist."

"I know. That thought crossed my mind a couple of times, but I sort of know them."

"That's not too bad then. How do you know them?" she asked in between a sip of her cocktail.

"Um... they're family friends."

Okay. Now I was definitely lying, but I will tell her, eventually.

"That makes it better. A bit safer, I guess."

"Yeah, that's what I thought."

A barman caught my attention and handed me my drink, before Bella & I walked back outside to join Cleo who sounded like she was just wrapping up a call when we reached her again.

"Alright, I will do. Bye" Cleo said before hanging up and slipping her phone back into her bag with a sigh.

"Who was that?" I asked nosily, but Cleo knew me well enough to be expecting the question.

"Lewis. Kim cooked tea tonight and apparently it was as close as you could get to being inedible and still be able to call it cooked."

"Aww! You two are so cute! Calling each other up just to talk about your meals..." Bella said with a smile, just getting a laugh and eye roll from Cleo.

"I wish, Bella! He called me to ask me to pick him up something to eat on my way home!"

Bella blushed a little upon realizing the normality of the couple. "That sounds a bit more like it. Guys are hopeless. I know that when I get home I'm gonna have to do all of Daniel's packing for him if he's going to turn up at Cairns with anything other than the clothes that he's wearing at the time."

"Really? I'm surprised. He seems like the type who'd have everything ticked off of some petty little to-do list, a week in advance!" I commented with surprise.

"Nope. You're getting neat freak and organized mixed up with each other."

"Mmm... neat freak. Maybe that's what I was thinking."

"Probably. You should've heard how panicked he sounded when he called me at work today to ask if crayon came off floor tiles! I think he nearly had a heart attack!" Bella said with a laugh before having another sip of her drink.

I laughed along with her and Cleo for a short time, with our alcohol intake affecting increasing the humour of it, before Bella stopped and took another sip of her drink, prompting Cleo & I to stop also.

That was how most of the evening continued on like. Talking, laughing and laughing past the point of whatever whoever had said was funny.

#

That night, I'd gotten home at about 1:30; two hours after Cleo had left Bella & I at the bar together, where the two of us had continued talking for another hour and three quarters or so longer.

I resisted the urge to stomp and slam around the house to annoy the guys who I assumed would be in bed by now, seeing that all the lights were out when I walked in the house.

Proving me wrong, I walked into the lounge room where Will had his head slumped over the back of the lounge, eyes shut, and Zane was massaging his temples.

"Rikki" he stated stupidly.

"Last time I checked, yeah."

Will groaned and moved slightly, softly mumbling, but loud enough for both me and Zane to hear. "She's home. You can relax now."

I scoffed, in annoyance. "You waited up for me?" I asked, hoping to sound as disgusted as I felt.

"No. We were just watching a movie, right Will?"

"We were watching a movie at 7. Now we're just re-re-re-watching a movie."

I felt the recognizable feeling of my temper beginning to flare up inside of me.

"I knew this would happen! I can't trust you to let everything go Zane! It's over! We're over! Don't you get that? The chance for a relationship anything above us just knowing each other is OVER!" I yelled, storming out of the lounge room.

On my way back upstairs, I heard a yelp and a male yell "Owww! What the hell was that for?" and I knew it wasn't coming from Zane.

I felt marginally guilty that Will had copped my flip out at Zane, especially considering that it was courtesy of him that I'd known the truth about Zane's over protectiveness, but I was just so, so angry to do anything about feeling bad for Will. Zane had already gone against everything that he'd promised me, just one day ago...

"_Rikki! Rikki wait!"_

_Zane had hooked his hand around my wrist, although I'd already been turning around to yell at him to back off again. _

"_5 minutes ago you were out of my life and in another 5 minutes you will be out of it again. End of story. Bye." I stated sternly, but of course, I knew better than anyone, Zane Bennett doesn't give up. _

"_Can we talk about this?" _

"_There's no 'this' to talk about, Zane! This was meeting was an accident and I'm leaving" I said, turning around to walk back to my car once again. _

_Again, latching onto my wrist, his strength stopped me. "Just hear me out calmly and then I'll let you leave or stay or whatever." _

_I rolled my eyes. "I'll be leaving, but fine. This just sounds too easy for you..." _

_He ignored my last comment and continued to speak. "Look Rikki, Will and I are sharing a house, in case you didn't work that one out yourself." _

"_No kidding" I quickly added before he continued on. _

"_Right, so we've got a four bedroom place, two of us, two rooms spare and we can't afford to pay for those two bedrooms if we're doing nothing with them. My Dad's agreed to pay me for one of them so he can use it as a guest room when he occasionally comes down from Townsville."_

_I crossed my arms in annoyance. "I really don't care about your Dad..." _

"_Sorry, I'll try not to drag the rest of it out. Anyway, we've still got a room left and Will really can't afford to pay me more for it and I can't afford to cover that extra cost anymore either." _

"_Get a bank loan..." _

"_Rikki! Just listen! We need someone to share the rent with, and by the looks of it, you need somewhere to live. It'll be good for you and good for us. It's a win-win situation." _

"_If I lived with you Zane, I know how much of a hard time you'd give me and how much pressure you'd put on me. You've proved that to me in the past!" _

"_I won't Rikki! I promise! A lot of time's gone by, remember. I won't bug you. We'll just be two friends, doing each other a favour." _

"_We're not friends and who said that I wanna help you out?" _

_He looked set back for a moment, before he composed himself once again. "What about Will? You'll be helping him too. Besides, isn't it better to live with someone you know, rather than a complete stranger?" _

_I sighed. Damn Bennett had hit me in a nerve. Moving away from the safety of the trailer, Zane had mentioned one of my biggest fears. I wasn't scared of much, but I admit it, death scared the hell out of me. And that was one of my big worries about moving in with total strangers. Who knew what they'd be like or what they'd do. _

"_Come on Rikki. We can just try it for a few weeks and see how it goes. If you, me or Will aren't happy then we can forget about it, but isn't it worth a shot?" _

_I took a deep breath, hesitating to respond either way. _

"_At least you'll know that Will and I aren't murderers or rapists..." he added. _

"_Fine." I frowned. "But we'll just do a trial run for a few weeks and see how that goes."_

_Zane's face lit up. "Great!" _

"_But- if you even __**think **__of acting the way you did or if you do anything like you did after we broke up, then I'm gone. No second chances." _

_He nodded seriously. _

"_Okay" I said, throwing my handbag back onto my shoulder. "Oh, and this still does not mean that we're friends." _

_I turned away, walking towards Will and my new home before I could see Zane's reaction. I don't think I even wanted to see his response..._

~ 2 Days Later ~

I knocked on the door and waited for a few seconds before it opened. The boys didn't have a spare house key for me to have yet, but we'd worked out a rough plan so that someone would either let me in or would loan me their key, depending on our schedules.

"Hey" Will said with a friendly smile, letting me inside.

I walked past him, rudely, not acknowledging his greeting.

I walked upstairs to dump my work junk from the day. Since about 8 months after I graduated, I've been working as a photographer for a small business nearby.

Today was a good work day for me as I did a shoot for some company that needed photos to use for promotional work. Landscape was always easier than working with people who were basically always either newlyweds wanting wedding photos done and couldn't keep their hands off each other or else family shots with kids that wouldn't keep still. Scenery was definitely easier!

By the time I'd cleaned all my lenses from today and uploaded the photos onto my computer, it was getting pretty close to dinner time and I was already beyond hungry.

I walked downstairs to both of the boys bustling around each other in the kitchen. Zane was getting chicken nuggets that were coated with a strip of cheese out of the oven and Will was sitting on the breakfast bar, flicking through the junk mail.

"Have we got food?"

Will looked up from a Coles catalogue. "Edible or non-edible?"

"What do you think B1?"

"B1? Huh?" Will questioned me with a look of confusion.

"Yeah. B1 and B2."

This time Zane looked at me weirdly. "B1 and B2? As in 'Banana's in Pyjama's'?"

I nodded. "Yeah, I guess so. You're B's just stand for something different."

There was silence for about 10 seconds before Will loudly let out an "Ohhhh! I get it!"

"Go on..." I prompted him.

"The B's stand for Bennett and Benjamin!"

I scrunched my face up momentarily. "Well they do, but I was thinking more along the lines of Bastard 1 and Bastard 2. Oh, Zane, you're definitely B2, cause I don't want you getting all cocky and thinking you're number 1."

"Thanks Rikki" Zane said with an eye roll, putting the chicken nuggets onto a plate. "Want one?"

I considered it momentarily before taking the plate that Zane was holding out in front of me. I didn't have any plans to go out for dinner tonight and I didn't know what else I could have.

"Sure!" I said, removing the plate holding all of the nuggets from his hands and walking off.

"Hey! Rikki! That's to share!" Zane shouted as I walked back upstairs to my room.

"Oh was it? Whoops! My bad" I said with a smile, popping a nugget into my mouth and continuing to my room, unfazed and carrying the whole plate.

#

I stayed in my room, polishing off Will, Zane's and my share of chicken nuggets while I fiddled around and Photoshopped photos that I'd taken today, until about 9:30 before I got bored and went back downstairs.

The boys were again watching TV, each flopped down on a couch.

"Can we change the channel? I wanted to watch Winners and Losers" I said as I walked in and sat on a recliner, trying to establish what was already on TV.

"No. The only show I watch is Underbelly and that's on now" Will said, with his eyes not moving from the screen.

"Well Winners and Losers is the only show _I _watch and that's on now too."

"You can watch it online tomorrow or whatever Rikki" he said, becoming rapidly annoyed.

"You can watch Underbelly online!"

"You stole our dinner!" he shouted.

"Because your friend's an idiot!" I yelled back.

"You're the one who dated him" Will smirked, just getting an unimpressed scoff from me.

"Zane, just change the channel."

He looked at me, then Will and then back to me before grabbing the remote. "You can watch Underbelly in-between the ad breaks, Will."

Will rolled his eyes, stuck a pillow over his head and sunk down deeper into the lounge, sulking.

#

The boys sat in boredom, while I silently watched the episode for another half an hour until a knock at the door interrupted us. At the time however, Zane was having a shower, leaving Will and I to bicker over channels again.

"You can get it Rikki. You're closest to the door, that's the rule we have" Will piped up.

"No. I'm the newest."

"You're still closest. And it's the Winners and Losers ad break. You can get it."

I scowled and got up, walking towards the door. "Fine..."

As I flung the door open, I didn't know who or what to expect. I wasn't expecting anyone and neither of the boys had mentioned anything or anyone either.

A traumatized cry echoed the room and I was nearly bowled over as the doorknocker rushed inside, where I caught them in my arms.

Bella. Crying. Blood. Blue. Purple. Mess.

"Rikki" rang through the air, with yet another yelp.

I was left standing there, hugging, holding, comforting and trying to make sense of the last 10 seconds.

_What the hell have I missed?_

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><p><strong>So, I hope that chapter lived up to the expectations of all of the Rikki lovers out there! <strong>

**This was by far my longest chapter of this story so far, so fingers crossed you enjoyed it and it wasn't too long-winded. Please, please let me know what you thought to inspire me to keep writing longer chapters and updating. **

**Best wishes xo**


	6. Reality Bites

**I was hoping this chapter would be up so much sooner than it was, but I had a lot of difficulty writing it (and even more so, being happy enough with it to post this chapter). However, it's up now and due to my perfectionism with this chapter I've already written about half of the next in the meantime too... and I get the feeling that I'm in a writing mood today. **

**So, review, inspire me and then you shall keep on reading! **

**Have a great day. **

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><p><strong>Chapter 6 – Reality Bites<strong>

Lewis' POV

Walking in the front door of my in-laws house, I watched Cleo quickly rush off the couch, before I felt her throw herself onto me, resembling a rubber band being released.

"Hey!" she squealed excitedly.

"Hi Cleo" I said, less enthusiastically, kissing her cheek to move past.

"How was your day?" she asked bounding upstairs behind me.

I'd forgotten that Monday was Cleo's day off and she had a tendency to be a little bored and energetic when I got home. On her days off she'd always have a sleep in and normally she'd just stay home, see one of the girls or go out for a coffee, conserving her energy until when I got home, however, I wasn't experiencing the same energy perks of a day off.

"My day? Yeah it was fine. Yours?" I asked as I got to our room, throwing my stuff on the end of the bed.

"I had a great day! Sam was home this morning too, so she taught me to make éclair's and then I went shopping after that and- Ooh! I bought you a present!" she said with another squeal.

"Really? What?" I asked, but not sharing my wife's enthusiasm as I chucked my shoes off, watching them land in the corner of the room.

"Well, because it was our 6 month wedding anniversary on Saturday, I thought that I'd get you something special, so…" she started saying, but paused as she ran over to the wardrobe and with a quick kiss, handed me a big silver gift bag.

"What is it?" I asked taking a quick birds eye view look inside the bag.

"Have a look" she prompted me, smiling.

I reached in and extracted a huge, heavy book out of the gift bag.

I felt a wave of happiness, before my heart dropped as I read out the title. "The Complete Encyclopedia of Marine Biology…"

"It's the latest version too. The one that was released last fortnight" she added, looking as proud as punch.

"Oh Cleo… thank you, but-" I said, dreading how I was going to tell Cleo this, as my eyelids slowly shut, before being cut off from my explanation.

"You're welcome! And I thought I'd treat myself too!" she said as she pulled out yet another different pair of black shoes, these with a lacy finish and the typical new shoe sheen.

"Aren't they gorgeous?" she asked me, waving the pair of footwear in my face.

"Yeah Cleo, they look amazing, but we need to talk first."

"Don't you like the book? I thought that you really wanted it…" she said, sounding a mixture of disappointed, uncertain and sad - and I already felt guilty.

"No, I love the book Cleo, I really do, and the shoes, they look great, it's just…" I started to say again, before this time I stopped myself. Cleo looked so sad and just moments ago she was bouncing off the walls. How was I going to tell her that there was no way in hell that we could afford either of them? I knew what the RRP of the book was which was the only reason why I hadn't bought it myself, and I knew the average price range of Cleo's taste in shoes.

"It's just what?" she asked, looking at me with her unintentionally sad eyes that just continued making me feel worse.

"Actually, don't worry about it. It's all good. Thanks for the surprise" I said, making the split second decision to try and work this one out a different way and attempt to keep up with creating the façade of a world where Cleo and I could afford the pair of shoes and the book. It was just a bit of money, I could scrounge together enough to cover it especially if it meant Cleo's happiness, which was my greatest priority of all in life.

"Alright then" Cleo said with a smile as she jumped off our bed again. "Are you hungry? I'll get you an éclair!" she added, leaving the room without waiting for my response.

I sighed and while I waited for Cleo to return, I got my laptop out and started on some of the accounts and taxes that were long overdue. I checked our bank balance, hoping for a miraculous couple of hundred of dollars to appear, but once again, my wish didn't come true.

Financially, it was marginally better now that we were living with Cleo's family, but I hated it. I felt like I was always being watched, - mostly by her dad or sister, and sometimes Sam too. It was like living in a fishbowl.

Cleo didn't seem to mind it as much as I did, but I guess she'd grown up here and it was just easier for her to adjust to living back at home, just with someone else.

Regardless, it was better than having to lay awake at night, hungry and worrying whether the electricity or water would be cut off or not. I guess I just had to deal with this little set back. It's not like we'll be here forever, it was just until we had enough to cover the bills & debts and to get back on our feet again.

I could live with that.

I still had Cleo and we were all good, so it's not like it's the end of the world anyway.

Cleo rushed inside the room, slamming the door shut and carrying 2 plates over to me. "I'm back!" she smiled and handed me the second plate, sitting down next to me.

"Thanks" I said with a smile, kissing her cheek.

"Welcome. Just don't be expecting éclairs every time you get home from work!" she laughed, making me smile.

"Aww damn! I could get used to this!"

"Sorry, my cooking skills are just taking baby steps for the moment, but you never know, some day you might have the perfect cooking-cleaning-sewing- domestic-goddess wife!" she laughed, with another bite of her éclair, which I must say I was impressed with, considering some of her previous attempts at cooking & baking.

"Nah, that's boring. I love my un-domestic mermaid."

She smiled and leaned in to kiss me, but I beat her to it.

After a pattern of several passionate kisses, we heard noise from downstairs and pulled away, knowing we'd be interrupted any second later and it was better to be prepared, than to be caught in an awkward and compromising situation.

I sighed at the inconvenience. "I'm sorry, Lewis" Cleo sympathized as she rubbed my shoulder, being the calmest that she had been since I got home.

Expectantly, we were interrupted by Kim who burst open the door.

"Ugh, there you are" she sneered.

"What do you want Kimmie?" Cleo asked looking up at her sister.

"I was checking whether anyone else was home. Dylan's coming over."

Cleo rolled her eyes. "Good for you…"

"You could've knocked. Doors are made of wood for a reason, you know." I added.

"Whatever. He'll be here in 20 minutes. Don't annoy us, alright? I think he could be the one!"

I watched as Cleo sniggered and nodded at Kim, and like I hadn't either, Cleo didn't believe a word her little sister had said.

Since our wedding, Kim has developed an unusual and unnatural interest in weddings, as well as the desire to get married too. Her Dad isn't happy with this, needless to say! Anyway, when Cleo was arranging our wedding, Kim felt the need to add her two cents worth in _every_ aspect of the planning. But no, that's not enough. She also had to compare her own 'wedding' to ours. And now she's been husband-searching so that she can boast about her wedding and outdo ours.

"Like Leo was the one, hey Kim?" I asked sarcastically. About a month ago, Kim was confident that her then-boyfriend was going to propose to her. She'd perceived him as being nervous about popping the question… he broke up with her that day.

"Shut up Lewis. No-one asked you" she hissed at me, before storming out of the room again.

Cleo laughed and kissed my cheek. "Good job!"

"Thanks" I smiled and leant down the bed to pick up my laptop again.

"So… what are you doing now?"

"Now, I just have to write a quick incident report for today."

Cleo frowned and rested her head on my arm, in more of a slouched position than I was. "Incident report? What happened?"

"No biggie. The floor was wet in the lab; Alana had a bit of a slip, dropped the beaker she was holding which broke and she got a little bit of glass in her foot" I said as I started typing away.

"Oh, ouch. But why do you have to do the paperwork for it? Wouldn't your boss have to cover all of that legal or official records stuff?"

"She was alright, it was just a small cut. Normally he would, but he was at a some meeting with a diving researcher the company's funding and I was the only one there, so I had to cop the paperwork!"

"It was just you and Alana?"

"Yeah… is that a problem?"

She looked away from my gaze. "No, not a problem, I just didn't realize that you two get left alone to work together."

"Well we hardly ever do, like maybe once every few weeks."

"Okay" she said with a small nod, looking down and scratching her nail polish.

"Cleo? Are you sure you're alright with that?"

"Yeah. It's your job. Don't worry about it, its all good. I just didn't realize that you two got left alone at work." I wasn't convinced however, and I could sense Cleo's insecurity was still there.

I gave her a quick kiss. "Tell me if it's ever a problem, alright? Besides, Alana and me barely ever talk anyway."

She smiled. "Okay."

"Besides, I should be getting jealous of your work situation."

"What? Why?" she frowned, looking a little worried again.

"You get left alone with dolphins _all day_! I should keep a better eye on them to make sure one of them doesn't steal my wife!"

Cleo burst out laughing. "I think your pretty safe with that one Lewis!"

"I don't know about that… I don't trust Ronnie!"

She continued laughing and pulled me in for a kiss. And another kiss, and a few more after that before she pulled away.

"Anyway, I'll leave you to that report" she said with another kiss on my cheek before crawling off the bed and walking out of our room.

#

I spent the next hour writing the report and having to extend everything and use the longest and most intellectual words to make the simple, common accident sound as if it was a life-or-death situation for legal purposes. At least it was finished and out of the way.

Anyway, after I'd emailed that to my boss, I went downstairs where Kim was flipping through a Uni textbook and Sam & Cleo were watching TV together.

"Finished?" Cleo asked, looking over to me from the TV, as I walked downstairs.

"Yeah all done" I said just before Don rushed over to me from his office with a finger pointed at me.

"Lewis" he stated, before turning his head into the lounge room. "And Cleo. Okay, good!"

"What's up?" I asked coolly but with a slight eyebrow furrow, as I must admit him pointing at me wasn't making me feel very easy on the inside.

"Oh you're not in trouble, don't worry" he said watching me with a light laugh as he lowered his finger.

I nodded, as he continued. "Sam, Kim & I had a chat last night and we decided that we should go on a family holiday. The 5 of us."

I looked over to Cleo who smiled excitedly at the news and replied to her Dad on my unwarranted behalf also."Sounds great! Where are we going?"

"Well, Sam & I wanted to go to Byron Bay, but Kim wanted to go to Sydney. However, we compromised and decided on Coffs Harbor."

I opened my mouth to attempt to graciously decline the invitation, but Cleo had bet me to it.

"Coffs Harbor? That sounds great! When do you want to go? Around Christmas time would suit us because we'll both have time off then" Cleo said, evidently bubbling over with excitement and seeing that clenched the guilt inside of me again.

From there on, I half-heartedly listened to Cleo & Sam talking about arrangements and planning this trip which had only been brought to my wife's attention less than 5 minutes ago, as I cupped my head in my hands, trying to work out how on earth I was going to break it to Cleo and then how we were going to tiptoe around it with her family without it looking suspicious.

"Lewis? Are you okay?" Cleo asked softly as she looked up at me, distracted from her planning.

"Um, no, Cleo. No, I'm not okay" I said trailing my cupped hands through my hair feeling like the stress and pressure was beginning to pile up on me physically as well.

"What's wrong? You look stressed" she asked with her voice and eyes projecting concern as she got up off the lounge and rubbed the top of my arm and shoulder.

I sighed. I'd been regretting and trying to hold off from having this conversation with Cleo and I was mortified that I even have to, but there was no other way. It might even make things easier if she knows and understands how bad things _really_ are...

"We need to talk" I said softly, looking into her worried brown eyes, before gently taking hold of her hand, leading her upstairs as she followed silently behind me.

"What's going on, Lewis?" she asked with a frown as I shut the door, leaning against it.

"We can't afford a holiday, Cleo. We can't afford those shoes, we can't afford that book and we can't even afford to pay bills from three damn months ago! I'm having to max out our already overdue credit cards to pay the even more overdue bills, and then you just going out and buying treats is just making things worse, even though I know that you mean well."

With a sigh from letting out my inner turmoil and frustrations, I looked at Cleo, who was fiddling with her lips, wearing a blank expression.

"I knew things weren't good, but it's that bad?" she asked softly, in more or less in a whisper.

I nodded and morphed her question into a statement. "It's that bad."

"Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"I wanted to fix things. I didn't want to put as much pressure and worry on you as I have on me, so I thought I could do a few extra hours at work and I thought moving here would help us more than it has" I said, feeling disappointed with myself and how I'd failed.

Cleo walked over to me and grabbed a hold of my hands. "You should've said something. I would've understood."

I nodded at her sadly. "I know, but I was just so disappointed and angry with myself. I wanted to find some sort of miracle, and I didn't want you to have to deal with this too."

"Well we can return the shoes and the book, I'll tell Dad that we can't afford to go on holiday and I'll try and get a few extra hours at work too."

"Okay, but don't tell your Dad, Cleo. I don't want him to know, alright?"

"What? That money's tight and we're in a bit of debt?"

"Yeah..."

"Why not? He knows that we're not millionaires."

"I know, but he thinks that we're just being wise with our money and trying to set ourselves up for the long run, not that we've got no other options. And I should be able to afford to pay for somewhere else to live and I should be able to afford holidays and other treats to make you happy. "

"Wait. Let's just get one thing straight here, Lewis. I am happy. I'm with you, we're both healthy, and we've got a roof over our heads. We're good. I don't care if we don't have enough to go on a family holiday which will probably just turn out being a 2 week bore or embarrassment-fest."

I nodded. "I know, but I just really don't want your Dad to find out that we're so in over our heads with debt. I promised him I'd look after you."

"You_ are_ looking after me. Sure, money's a bit tight for the time-being, but we'll get through this. It's not going to last forever" she said with a reassuring smile that always prompted me to mirror her action.

"That's better..." she added as both of our smiles increased.

For a short time, I reflected on our conversation and how I'd felt the inner relief after the burden was lifted off of me, just from coming clean with Cleo. "Have has anyone ever told you how amazing you are?" I hypothetically asked her, knowing the answer to my own question that just made her laugh.

Watching Cleo laugh gave me hope. I'd spent so much time mulling over our problems and I'd spent just as much time trying to think of a way out of our mess. The thing is, it felt all so unjust. It's not like we'd splurged out thousands of dollars on our honeymoon and when we returned home, we had a low budget apartment, we hadn't made any big purchases and we'd tried to keep a budget.

The problem was, the combination of a little bit of money going into a lot of things like the wedding, the honeymoon, the cost of moving out of home, the apartment, bills and the few things we had bought. We didn't have that much to begin with and we certainly didn't have enough to cover all of the above.

However, now that Cleo knew more about it and was more conscious, I felt so much better and for the first time in months, I could see the glimmer of light at the end of a very long, very dark tunnel.

_We **can** get through it._

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><p><strong>So, a sort of nicer chapter for Clewis... the question is, what else is going to pop up? I've got a couple of more things ready and waiting to throw at them, so just you wait and see (or in this case, read). <strong>

**What did you think of the chapter anyway? I haven't covered Cleo or Lewis since the very beginning and I found it extremely hard to write from Lewis' POV, so I'd love some second opinions on how you all think I did. Not too O.O.C?**

**Next chapter, we pick up where we left off with the chapter before's cliffhanger. Review & that will be up soon! **


	7. First Instinct

**No, you're not seeing things. No, you're not going crazy. No, it's not some sort of cruel joke. ... Yes, I have updated TWICE in ONE week! **

**However, not sure how fast I'll be able to update again because I'm back at school - but only for 24 more days (and counting) until I have 8 weeks of SUMMER holidays! (But first I have to endure the depressive, Old English "Romeo & Juliet"... and put up with my sister, who due to my whingeing about R&J, has decided to crack EVERY Romeo/Juliet joke in the book.)**

**Anyway, onto the chapter. Thank you to everyone who reviewed chapter 6! Really love reading your reviews and I would love to know what everyone thought about this chapter too - reviews = inspiration / inspiration= writing/ writing = new chapters!**

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><p><strong>Chapter 7 – First Instinct<strong>

Will's POV

Almost as soon as Rikki had left to answer the door, the TV program I'd been watching went to ad breaks again. I was only half-heartedly watching the Carpet Giants ad that I I'd seen numerous times before, when suddenly the TV wasn't the only loud noise in the quiet night.

"Rikki!" echoed into the lounge room from the front door, and although the voice was female, I could definitely tell that it wasn't Rikki who was crying and yelling her own name. I got up to see what the fuss and drama was about, and check that everything was okay.

"What's going on?" I asked, walking towards the entry way and front door, before I saw the two girls.

Rikki and _Bella_.

Rikki appeared dazed, leading Bella inside, upstairs and as she turned when I spoke, I got a better look at Bella, feeling absolutely sick to my stomach.

"Oh my god, what the hell happened?"

Even from a distance, I could see the red blood that was slowly trickling down one of her eyebrows and the side of her head, the red bruises that framed her eyes, scratches leading down from one cheek to her jaw.

Tears were still rapidly streaming down her darkened, smudged-mascara face as she battled with her breathing. Her clothes and hair were a mess, some parts coated in blood and the majority of her skin that was exposed on her arms or neck was either red, dabbled with blood, scratched or bruised.

I felt like I'd been winded and punched in the gut. I was so, so shocked and a million questions were darting through my mind. What happened? Who did this? Why Bella? Would she be okay?

My first instinct felt no different to as it would've a year and a half ago, when we were still together. That kicked in and I raced over to follow Rikki and Bella upstairs, to protect and comfort her. However, Rikki had other ideas and she stood in-between me and my target.

"Leave us, Will. I'll tell you if she needs anything" she said softly but firm enough for me to obey her.

I watched Rikki turn around and urge Bella slightly forward, leading her to her room. Watching from a distance, I still felt as if I could read every expression, every movement and every gesture of Bella's and my instinct was telling me that she was hurting bad. That alone was hurting me too.

#

Zane walked back into the lounge room as I did, from the other side of the room.

"Is Rikki alright? I heard crying" he asked, shaking dry his wet hair much like how you'd expect a dog would.

I nodded and sat down on the lounge again, taking another much needed skull of beer. "Rikki's fine."

He nodded and sat down next to me, looking slightly relieved. "Oh okay. Good."

"Yeah, but Bella's here."

"What? Why?"

"She came to see Rikki. She's been beaten up... or rap-", I started to say, but just considering the awful, stomach-churning thought had paralysed me from being able to say the rest of the word aloud.

"Should we call the police or ambos or something?"

I sighed and shrugged. "I don't know. I don't know how bad she was and I don't know what happened."

"Okay, let's just wait for Rikki to come back down and tell us more" he said and I responded with a nod, so we waited.

And waited.

And waited.

Then finally, close to an hour later, Rikki came back downstairs.

Hearing the footsteps, I bolted upright from my slouched posture on the lounge.

"How is she?" I asked eagerly.

"Well I tried to get a better look at some of her injuries, but you can't really tell much. Everything was too swollen or bruised."

I nodded, trying not to dwell on what I'd just been told and instead, diverted to another question that had spiralled in mind as we waited. "Do you know what happened? Did she say anything?"

Rikki shook her head. "No. She barely said anything and whatever she did say I couldn't distinguish through her crying."

"Do _you_ have any idea of what might've happened?"

"Not really, no, but I'm pretty sure that she was just attacked or assaulted. I don't think that she was raped."

I let out a little exhale of relief. _Thank goodness. _I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy, let alone Bella, but it still didn't change whatever the person _had_ done.

"Who would want to hurt her?" I asked myself aloud, but softly under my breath.

"What?"

"Who would want to hurt her?" I repeated.

"I don't know. She didn't have any enemies that I was aware of. She might've been mugged on her way home from work."

I nodded at the likely possibility. I could count on one hand the number of people that I'd ever known to hate Bella (with a list that mostly consisted of my sister), and much less who want to do something like that to her. A stranger was a much more feasible possibility.

"Wait a minute. She said she had a boyfriend. It could be domestic abuse" I realized, with another, even more likely option flashing through my head.

"No. No way, Dan would _never_ hurt Bella" Rikki said, shaking her head firmly.

"Are you sure? Sometimes things like that can be really unexpected and if they had a fight or something..."

"No Will. There's no way. That's like me accusing _you_ of doing that to her."

"There's no way in hell that I'd hurt her!" I said, getting angry and taking her suggestion personally, which was probably supposed to be proving a point.

"Well, there's no way that Dan would do that either."

"Some guys can play you like a fiddle and get you to believe everything they say."

"Yeah, I know, jerks like you two, but not him."

"How do you know that he wouldn't?"

"Because I know Daniel and I'm friends with him too."

"Still..."

"'Still' nothing, Will!"

"At least count it as a possibility, Rikki. I mean, why'd she come here, to you and not to him?"

"Because Dan's 3 hours away!"

"He might've visited her..."

"He doesn't live 3 hours away, he lives here, but he's in Cairns for 2 weeks, so what's the chances that he made a fly by visit just to bash his girlfriend, who the last I knew, he's in love with!"

I started backing down. My theory sounded stupid now and I was left feeling bruised on the inside, realizing again that Bella was in such a serious relationship with someone else.

"Whatever. We'll just ask her in the morning. Goodnight." I said, ending our conversation and leaving the room.

Walking up to my room, still trying to nut everything out, I felt a magnetic-like pull towards Rikki's bedroom, seeing that her bedroom door was ajar and slightly opened.

Softly pushing the door open to a point where I could fit my head through the space, I looked over to the bed that was occupied by a sleeping Bella.

It was like a sweet sorrow seeing her there. I smiled slightly observing how peaceful she was asleep, but the pretty picture was tainted by the red and other dark, unnatural colours and wounds that glazed her face, acting as reminders of her intense & obviously traumatic night.

I closed the door and left the room, walking towards my own room, with my brain still pumping full of unanswered questions.

#

The next morning I woke at about 7:30, even though I'd gotten barely any sleep from the constant tossing and turning with thinking about last night.

I got up and I assumed no-one else was, due to the lack of noise and presence of anyone else. I read the paper and checked Facebook until about 10 when Zane came downstairs too.

"10? You're up early" I commented as he sat down to me.

"Who cares?"

"No-one. I was just pointing it out."

"Okay. So, is Rikki up yet?" asked Zane as he fiddled with the lid of a beer bottle that was nearby

"Maybe, but she hasn't been down here" I said, before remembering what Rikki had told him before. "You might not want to check whether she is or not. I think you're skating on pretty thin ice with her."

"I know, but it's so damn hard though."

"Tell me about it."

We heard footsteps coming down and Zane & I simultaneously looked up to see who it was. I knew exactly what I was going to ask, before I saw who it was, with the only variation being _who_ it was that I directed my question at.

"How's Bella?" I asked as soon as saw it was Rikki.

"No 'good morning Rikki' or 'how'd you sleep?'" Rikki said with annoyance.

"Morning Rikki; how's Bella?" I asked with a sarcastic cheeriness that just ended up with me being ignored.

"What were you saying about thin ice before, Will?" Zane smirked, getting a light shove in the shoulder as a response from me.

"So is she okay? Are you taking her to the doctor or anything today? "

Rikki rolled her eyes in annoyance before stopping and slamming her hands on the bench as coolly as possible. "Bella's fine. Now shut up. Don't ask me, don't ask her. Go back to your own little worlds."

"Fine, whatever" I said, unconfidently knowing what I needed to, despite the difficulty with retrieving the information.

"Wanna come out and get some brekkie and coffee with me?" I asked Zane, snatching my car keys off of the top of the fridge. "The milk's out of date."

"Sure" Zane said getting up and following me out to the car.

"Zane? Does this seem weird to you at all?"

"What? Out of date milk? No, I'm used to it now" he dumbly responded, on a totally different wavelength to me.

"No. I mean this whole Bella thing, you idiot!"

Zane shrugged carelessly. "Nah not really; it happens."

"But why'd she go to Rikki?"

"I don't know Will! The only things I know about Bella are that she's a good singer, she dated you and she's invading my house right now! Stop over thinking things, you'll give yourself, not to mention me, a headache."

I nodded and pulled out of the driveway.

#

We'd gone to the closest fast-food restaurant and each gotten a cooked breakfast and coffee before we went back home to face our no longer bachelor pad.

"Where's mine?" Rikki asked immediately as we walked back in.

"I thought you'd gone all 'Miss Independent' and anti-us" I half-heartedly replied, looking over to a now turned away Bella who was sharing the couch with Rikki.

"I have."

"Exactly, so why would we do you a favour?" Zane added with a failed attempt at a smirk, which just turned all smiley.

"Bella, are you okay?" I asked, walking over to the coffee table in an attempt to get a better look at her, but she just kept turning away from line of sight.

She silently nodded, and Rikki's defensive friend guard seized up again. "I told you, she's fine. Now rack off!"

"This was our house first Rikki, you can't tell us what to do..." Zane said, crossing arms.

"Fine, stay; we're just sorting a couple of things out" she smirked.

Zane uncrossed his arms and walked over to the other couch. "I will!"

"Now, Bella... did you see that tampons are on special at Woolworths this week?"

I cringed and briefly watched from afar as Rikki smirked, while Zane's face scrunched up. "Eww! You could've warned me!"

He got off the couch and Rikki smiled as he walked upstairs, not looking back. I took one last glance at the girls before following him.

"Oi, Zane" I whispered loudly, trailing behind him in the upstairs hallway.

"Yeah, what?" he asked, stopping and turning around to face me.

I self-consciously looked behind me, just to double check and ensure that neither of the girls were walking upstairs or were behind us. "How weird was Bella acting? I mean she didn't say anything and she didn't look anyone in the eye.

Again, my 'helpful' friend just shrugged. "I don't know, mate. I'm not a psychologist."

I rolled my eyes and walked off. "Thanks anyway."

#

I'd retreated to my room after that, in an attempt to start thinking about something else.

I surfed through the channels on the small TV in the corner of the room before leaving it on a re-run of an old 80's crime show that I zoned in and out of watching.

"Will" Rikki said, just walking into my room. "You need to move your car. It's blocking mine in and I need to go out."

"Can it wait?" I frowned, having sunk into quite a relaxing and comfortable position on my bed.

"No, I need to go out and pick some stuff up... for _Bella_" she added at the end, increasing the incentive for me to do what she wanted, in a clever, but manipulative way.

I sighed and exhaled before pushing myself off the bed. "Fine, you win."

We walked downstairs and I grabbed my keys. "Wait, where are you going?"

"None of your business" she said crossing her arms defensively.

I smirked, realizing that I had the upper hand in yet another of Rikki's games. "I won't move my car unless you tell me where you're going."

I teasingly hung my keys off my pointer-finger, rocking it back and forth in front of her face. She watched the keys, mesmerized and silentl for a few moments, before quickly and unexpectedly snatching the keys for herself. "Fine I'll do it for myself."

"Hey! That's stealing! I'll call the police" I threatened, trailing quickly and closely behind her as she walked away from me and towards the front door.

Stopping and turning around suddenly towards me, she held the keys behind her back, clenched in one palm. "You wouldn't call the police. You're too much of a softy."

"Oh yeah? Try me..." I taunted trying to subtly and slowly circle around to her back.

She moved my keys to her other hand and nodded confidently. "I will."

"ZANE" I yelled out while Rikki walked out the front door. Befor long at all, I caught up and ran past her and headed towards my car before stopping resting my back against the driver's side door.

Rikki rolled her eyes, slowing her pace and I waited for Zane.

"This is so immature, Will..."

I shrugged at her as Zane sluggishly walked outside and over to us. "What?"

"Rikki's got my keys" I pointed. "They're behind her back. Can you grab them?"

I noticed the little sparkle in his eyes as he nodded and walked closer to her, pulling her into a bear hug-turned-wrestle.

I laughed a little watching the two as Rikki fought angrily, whereas Zane was tackling with a smile.

After a little over a minute, Zane pulled away and ran over to me, like it was some of relay, passing the keys from one person to the other.

Flattening her hair and clothes that were impacted from the wrestle, she obviously wasn't happy with either of us. "Hurry up and move the damn thing. I need to get to her place before the cleaner gets there."

My interest increased. _Bella's place..._

"Do you a deal. I was going to go out and get some more beer before, so I can take you" I said, getting an 'as if' eye roll.

"No."

"It saves your petrol and I'll get you a drink on me too" I added, in an attempt to add more self-appeal for Rikki to my offer.

"No."

"I'll stay in the car and out of your way" I quickly added in desperation.

She didn't knock back my offer as quickly this time, and I took it as a good sign when she looked down and kicked a small rock that was in the firing line of her foot.

"Fine... ONLY if you stay out of the way and buy me a box of Cruisers at the Bottle-O."

"A box? I meant a bottle!"

She raised an eyebrow and shrugged. "It's up to you..."

"Fine, a box it is."

Rikki smiled and got in the passenger's side of my car when I unlocked it and as I opened my own door, Zane stopped me.

"Hey! Hold on a minute... You two aren't going alone. I'm coming too, and that drink offer better apply to me as well, Will" Zane said while he got in the backseat.

"Fine" I agreed, getting in and driving off.

#

We'd gone to the Bottle-O first, and Rikki chose the most expensive box of Cruisers for me to buy her, reminding me to make a mental note of never offering something like that to her again. I'd also gotten Zane a bottle of some liqueur or whatever he'd chosen, along with my beer.

Walking out of there, a stranger would've thought we were alcoholics.

Once we left, Rikki gave me a street name, that I knew was just off one of the main roads in Central Business District, or CBD - the busiest, most established and most expensive part of the Gold Coast.

We stopped in front of a tall sky rising apartment block that was in a row with about 8 others that were identical or similar and each housing several apartments within it.

"Alright, I'll be back in a while, I just have to get some of her stuff."

"Why?" Zane asked from in the backseat, before I had the chance to.

"Bella's staying with me until Daniel gets back."

I smiled and looked back at Zane, who was far from impressed. "Um, thanks for running it past me Rikki..."

"I thought Will would be all for the idea, so I'm sure he's going to be able to convince you otherwise" she smirked before getting out of car and walking off.

#

When Rikki left, she left me with a whiny, nagging 22 year old, grumbling about having someone else staying with us and continuously begging me for a beer that was in the car boot with all of the other alcohol.

"Zane if you don't shut up soon, I'll get out and child-lock your door" I threatened after half an hour of putting up with it.

However, he kept going and after another 10 minutes of looking up at the apartments through the window, I gave into my temptation and curiosity of wondering what it was like inside.

"Zane. I'm going in" I said, getting out and locking the car after Zane had self-decidedly chosen to follow me out.

"Do what you want, but Rikki's not going to be very happy..." he reminded me simply.

"Stuff Rikki" I said walking up to the door and knocking.

A few seconds later, Rikki opened the door and frowned. "You said you wouldn't get in the way and you'd stay in the car."

"I know, sorry, but it was getting hot in there and can I quickly use the bathroom while we're here?"

She looked at both of us, frowning. "Fine, but go straight there and come straight back out."

I nodded as Zane & I quickly rushed inside and past her.

"The bathroom's the last door straight at the end of the hallway" she said, pointing towards an arch, before disappearing off into the room that was closest to the front door.

I looked around the neat and well-decorated living room. The deep, modern colours and multitudes of decorations were a far cry from the look of me & Zane's house's 'barely there' theme.

In the lounge room, I looked around at the huge, flat, wide-screen TV, two long leather lounges, massage chair, bookshelf, coffee table and a smaller box about the size of a bedside table which didn't really fit in with the rest of the decor.

Walking through to the hallway wasn't eventful, with about 4 or 5 of the same doors, all the same colour, all closed shut, except for the one that was the second to last door before the bathroom.

As I walked closer, I noticed how this one differed, being the only door that wasn't blank aside from the lick of light brown paint. It was the only decorated door and the only door with a hanging, plastered and childishly hand-painted 'A' that was a combination of hot pink and baby pink, with a small decorative silver butterfly on the bottom corner of the letter.

Unusual, yes, but I ignored it and made the final few steps towards the bathroom.

Opening the door, I was expecting a room just as nicely decorated as the living room, and my prediction was spot on... apart from the odd splodges of dried up blood around the room that I had _not_ been anticipating.

A hand towel lay balled up on the floor, against the spa-bath with several visible patches of red blood staining it. Random streaks of the same coloured red blood lead to the corner of the sink where there was another mark tainting the edge of the perfect bench.

I looked around the room in shock.

Bella _wasn't_ attacked on her way home from work. My bet was that it happened somewhere at her place... or even here in the bathroom.

Unless, she'd come home and attempted to clean herself up before she went to Rikki...

No. One of my first instincts and gut feelings was that her boyfriend had hurt her and that made sense after having found this too... but Rikki said he was in Cairns, which totally blew my theory out of the water.

I'd had enough and was sickened by the sight. It wasn't because of the gore, but rather it was just a reminder of what someone actually had done to her.

Seeing that was a turning point for me and I made the decision that honesty was the best policy. I would just ask Bella straight out about what had happened and who had hurt her when I got home.

As I walked out, I thought that was enough revelations for one day, but obviously not_._

"Will" Zane said walking up to me from the other side of the hallway, through an arch that opposite to the one I'd come through, past the living room.

"What?" I asked, thinking of whether I should tell him about the bathroom or not.

"Come and have a look at this" he said, taking me into the kitchen, that was lead to through the arch he'd come through.

I followed and we stopped at the fridge, wordlessly.

My mind surged as I tried to take in all of the pictures, childrens finger paintings and drawings that were on the fridge which you'd think was acting as a photo album.

There were numerous photos of 3 people.

There was a guy who was maybe three or so years older than me. He had dead-straight, bleached blonde spiked tips that faded into a medium brown colour at the roots, from where his hair was slicked away from all over his head with hair gel.

I was guessing that_ he_ was Daniel. The repetitive kissing, cuddling and general closeness in the photos with Bella suggested & supported this theory too.

The other person aside from Bella that was in the majority of the photos, was a little girl with mousey brown hair and blue eyes. Her age varied in the pictures ranging right from the photos of a small, sleeping baby but in the oldest, she looked like she was slightly older or younger than 1. I had to admit, she was a pretty cute kid with a seemingly never-ending smile, but that didn't stop the fact that she was _there_... all over Bella's fridge.

I looked over all of the photos quickly, mostly focusing on that one little girl until Zane interrupted me and stated a variation of the question that had been going over into overdrive in my mind.

"You never told me that Bella had a kid."

* * *

><p><strong>So... another cliffhanger, just because I can. Any thoughtsfeelings/advice/ANYTHING that you'd like share with me on this chapter? I would LOVE to read it and I appreciate reviewers more than you can seriously imagine. **

**Have a good one and enjoy this beautiful weather! **


	8. Look Who's A Big Girl Now?

**Hey everyone. I'm so sorry that it's been so long since I've updated this! I was hoping to have this chapter up sooner, but I find writing from both Cleo & Lewis's P.O.V's very difficult, no to mention I also had literally had no inspiration and no idea what else I was going to have in this chapter after I reached about the 700 word mark... And there's no way that I'd post a 700 word chapter for this story. It's not that I haven't got plans for Cleo (and Lewis) because trust me, I do, but I couldn't really touch on their issues yet without spoiling the surprise of it too much. And so, I decided to take the path of Charlotte until Lewis's next chapter... **

**Anyway, I hope that you guys are happy with this chapter at least! I've finished chapter 9 already too, so review and I shall upload that which I promise you is a heck of a lot more interesting and dramatic!**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 8 – Look Who's A Big Girl Now<strong>

Cleo's P.O.V

"Well done Jemima!" I smiled, praising the dolphin as I released a small piece of frozen squid into the pool in front of me.

She surfaced for the treat, clapping her right fin along the top of the water proudly before returning underwater.

I wrapped up Jemima's training for the day, picking up the bucket of squid, the dry ball I hadn't needed to use and my emergency towel, carrying them back to the wet area which was where all the equipment for the dolphins was kept and where mine and a few of the other employees lockers and change room was. I put all the equipment and leftover squid away, before getting changed and grabbing my stuff, ready to leave after having spent the last 4 hours at the Marine Park working.

This morning I'd sent texts out, arranging to catch up with the Rikki and Bella half an hour after my shift at work finished, over a coffee at our favourite cafe which conveniently overlooked the Surfers Paradise beach.

I had to walk to the cafe today, because Lewis was using our car which we took turns with, but it wasn't that bad considering it was only about a 15 minute walk from the house to the Marine Park, then a 20 minute walk from the Marine Park to the cafe and another 20 minutes to get back home from there.

"Cleo?"

I distinctively heard my name being called as I walked along the main, busy footpath which lead to the beach one way and the main road the other, nearing closer and closer to the cafe.

I turned around, expecting to see Rikki or Bella trying to get my attention, but when at first glance I noticed no blonde I turned back around and continued walking along.

"Cleo!" the same voice repeated.

I turned around taking a better, this time noticing _who_ was approaching me.

"Wow... Charlotte?"

"Cleo" Charlotte Watsford repeated, for the third time.

"Yeah" I softly confirmed, taking a step backwards and crossing my arms defensively, pulling my guard and defensive barrier up as I came around from the shock – processing the current situation.

"How are you?" Charlotte asked, all of a sudden bursting into a smile which threw me completely off-track. I was expecting and imagining that I would be approached by the same Charlotte Watsford that had left the Gold Coast nearly 5 years ago with a very bruised ego and overly bitter outlook and opinion of me – not the same sweet and friendly Charlotte that I'd initially met, before things turned ugly between us when Lewis was thrown into the equation.

Not sure how to react from her change in attitude, I made the split second decision to change her opinion of me in _this_ lifetime now. I wasn't the same girl she had known, and I wasn't the same girl that she'd _expected_ to back down when the pressure turned up in the past – I wasn't going to let her tread all over me again.

I wasn't the same Cleo Sertori. I was Cleo _McCartney_.

"I'm great, thanks" I smiled, focusing my energy on pulling as much confidence as I could into my voice and stance.

She nodded, still smiling sweetly. "That's good. And how about the other girls? Rikki? Emma? What are they up to these days?"

"They're both doing well. Rikki's still here – she's a photographer now, but Emma's studying abroad at Oxford; something to do with medicines."

"And Lewis?"

This time it was my turn for the smiling. "He's still here. He studied at a Marine Biology Institute in the U.S. for a few years, but he's finished that and works for a lab now."

Again, Charlotte nodded, with a marginally less enthusiastic smile. "That's great. Are you two still together?"

"Yeah. We're married" I smiled, with no added or artificial confidence needed.

"I thought you would be. Have you got any kids?"

I shook my head. "No, it's just us." Again she nodded which prompted an awkward silence and an exchange of uncomfortable looks.

"I know I said that I'd stay away and that I wouldn't ever come back, but that was 5 years ago, and my work offered me a job here, Cleo. I figured that the Gold Coast's a big enough place for us all to live and not get in each other's ways" Charlotte explained herself, reasoning with me.

I nodded. "That's fine. Life's gone on since then. We've all grown up now."

Charlotte agreed with a smile and nod. "Exactly. I still don't understand what got into me with the way I acted back then. I guess what they say's true... jealousy's a curse."

"Yeah, I guess so. Anyway, I'm meeting up with some friends, so I've really gotta go now" I said trying to take a subtle step backwards in an attempt to distance myself from her and to leave.

"Alright it's good seeing you. I might see you around" she said with a smile as I nodded and walked off, headed for the cafe again.

#

As soon as I walked in I noticed Rikki sitting at a table, sipping an iced frappe and flicking through a magazine.

"Hey" I said walking up with a smile, sitting down adjacent to her.

"Hi Cleo."

"What are you doing here so early? You're actually on time." I laughed, gesturing to my watch.

She rolled her eyes as she took another sip of her drink through the straw before replying. "You can blame Bella for that. We came together and she made sure that we left early to get here on time."

I laughed and grabbed my purse out of my bag. "I didn't think you'd be punctual voluntarily! Where's Bella anyway? Couldn't she stand you alone with her any longer?"

"Haha, Cleo. Very funny, but I think she's getting a drink or something. I kind of zoned out when she was telling me where she was going."

In a continuation of my giggling, my laugh intensified slightly. "No way! That doesn't sound like something you'd do!"

"Thought you'd be surprised" she smirked before we were interrupted when Bella came and joined us, carefully carrying a steaming mug.

"Hey Bella" I said greeting my friend and as I looked up to her, I was slightly startled. "Ouch, what happened to you?"

She had a black eye, a few healing scratches and a slightly larger cut over her eyebrow which had obviously happened _and_ had time to heal since the last time I'd seen her.

In response flicked her hand care freely in the air. "Oh that's nothing."

"What did you do to yourself?"

This time, Bella's la-de-da attitude morphed into a sterner warning. "Don't worry about it, Cleo."

"Okay... Anyway, guess who I saw?"

Bella shrugged and Rikki rolled her eyes. "Cleo, I stopped playing guessing games when I was 7... Just tell us."

"Charlotte."

"Charlotte!"

"Charlotte?"

The one word, or name, was spoken by each of us girls, separated by just mere seconds. I spoke it in the form of a statement; Rikki repeated the word in shock and then Bella did so in the form of a question.

I looked at Bella and Rikki wordlessly, before they too exchanged glances, with Rikki trying to process the information in shock and Bella trying to work out what was going on and who we were talking about.

After the induced silence, Bella was the first to speak, softly questioning me and Rikki. "Who's Charlotte?"

"The biggest bi-" Rikki started to let her anger fuse through her speech, but I stopped her, knowing her answer would in no way answer Bella's question, but would rather just be a long, bitter vent about Charlotte and where she should 'go'.

"She used to live here, but she moved away a few months before you got here. She _was_ like us and she tried to make _us_ lose our powers but it backfired on _her_ instead" I explained lowering my voice down to a whisper in the busy cafe.

"Wow..." Bella mouthed, taking in the new information that there not only used to be another mermaid, but also the 'what if' factor of if Rikki & I had lost our powers.

"So what is she doing here anyway? Come to declare World War III? Has she discovered a new spell to cast Lewis under? Or blow up Mako Island?" Rikki questioned.

I rolled my eyes at Rikki. "No. Actually, she was quite pleasant and she told me that she's not the same person she was before she left."

"And you seriously believe that?"

I took a deep breath, considering the question one last time. "Yeah. I do believe she's changed. Situations and circumstances can change a person Rikki, and force them to become someone else."

"When did you become all wise and Confucius-y, Cleo?" Rikki asked with a raised eyebrow and I just shrugged in reply. "I'm still never, ever going to trust her. I never have and I never will."

We were interrupted when Rikki's phone started vibrating like crazy on the middle of the table. Picking it up and answering, I listened in, well to what Rikki said anyway.

"Oh hey. Having a good time?"

I looked over to Bella with a questioning glance and look of confusion, where she was already mirroring my expression.

After a pause, Rikki replied to whoever she was talking to again. "Okay, why?" she said before holding her phone against her shirt and telling us "I'll be back in a sec. I just have to sort something out" before walking off, exiting the cafe and leaning against the cafe's glass windows outside as she was on the phone.

"Do you know who she's talking to?" I asked Bella who just shook her head.

"I don't know. I'm guessing you don't either."

"Nope, I haven't got a clue."

Our cluelessness prompted a short silence as Bella took a sip of her drink.

"I'm just gonna go and get a drink" I said before I upped and left the table too.

Walking up to the counter to order, I looked at the prices of my usual orders. Macchiato and Jaffa torte; my usual. But as I analysed the menu closer I came to the realization that I'd thoughtlessly been ordering probably two of the most expensive items on the menu...

Then I remembered how stressed Lewis had been before and during our discussion when he'd been telling about how little money we had and how many big bills we had piling up. I knew that it was really weighing him down and I hated that. So instead of my normal order, I just got a small cappuccino instead. It was only a little bit of money saved, but I guess every little bit counts.

#

Walking back to the table, it was still only Bella who was sitting there, paging through something on her phone.

"Rikki not back yet?" I asked, sitting down in the same spot I had been before I left.

"Nope. It's just me all on my lonesome."

Looking up, I watched Rikki walk back over to our table with a smile, as I muttered to Bella, "Speak of the devil!"

"Who were you chatting to?" I smirked.

Sitting down again, she looked over to Bella who was now origami-ing a napkin. "It was Dan, actually."

Bella looked up, not quite looking that thrilled. "Oh... and?"

Rikki let out another smile. "And he's got a surprise for you... but don't ask me what it is because I've been sworn to secrecy."

"Okay. That's cool I guess" she said before picking up her bag and empty cup.

"What? I thought you would've asked me at least 10 times before you gave up" Rikki said looking slightly shocked.

"Uh yeah... I guess I'll just, um, call him later and nag him then. Anyway, sorry Cleo, it was good catching up but we've gotta go now, come on Rikki."

Rikki begrudgingly got up and nagged Bella to stay, the two performing a very mother-childish like scene which at a later time would be quite laughable. Bella convinced Rikki to leave, threatening her with having to walk home before they left me shortly after that.

#

After arriving home, and greeting my Dad firstly, I walked into my bedroom and crept up behind Lewis silently, who was focused on his laptop, not even flinching as I opened the door, reading a seemingly looking boring page with a whole lot of words. I wrapped my arms around his shoulders from behind and kissed his cheek. "Hey."

"Hey there" he smiled, looking up at me, closing the laptop and rotating slightly so that he was facing me. "You're home late."

"Yeah, I was out with the girls, sorry."

"Don't worry about it."

I smiled and sat down on his lap. "So... I bumped into someone today."

"Really, Cleo? Again? I think we're going to have to do something about your co-ordination" Lewis said with a smile and joking sigh.

Realizing the double meaning of what I said, I giggled. "No, you goose! I meant that I saw someone today."

"Who? The girls? Your dad? Laurie? Me?" he teased as I whacked his arm jokingly. "No..."

"Alright then, I give up. Who'd you see?" he asked as he rubbed over his arm where I'd hit him, using his other hand.

"Charlotte. I saw Charlotte" I informed my husband as his eyebrows raised, increasingly so by the time I repeated the name.

"Really...? Charlotte? I thought she wasn't supposed to be coming back."

I nodded. "'Supposed to' are the keywords here. She told me that her job made her shift back over here, but she also said that she wouldn't bother us again."

"Do you believe her? I'll take your word for it if you do, but otherwise... I don't know. We'll cross that bridge if we come to it."

I mentally went over our meet-up once more in my head, trying to capture any vibes of dishonesty or any act whatsoever, but even me, who would be second to Rikki with trying to find something wrong with Charlotte, couldn't. I truly believed that she was telling me the truth and that she just wanted peace. I mean, it's not that uncommon for people to change and besides, everyone deserves a second chance. This is hers...

"Yeah; yeah I do believe her. I really think that she has changed."

Leaning over, kissing my forehead briefly he smiled. "Well I trust your judgement."

I smiled slightly. Of course I knew that Lewis trusted me, but it was just nice to be reminded of that. Trust was probably the most fragile quality I knew of. It took such a long, long time and it took a lot of effort for it not only to be built up and obtained, but also for it to be cultivated and maintained. Even still, trust wasn't bulletproof and it took just one thing for it to be shattered completely, one hundred percent irreversible and unsalvageable.

I trusted Lewis more than anything and anyone else. Ever since kindy, he'd been the one who, with his confidence, could make me do anything. It was a really dependable trust. When Charlotte had entered the picture for the first time, I'd wanted to trust him with her, but I'd had a really bad feeling about it. It was like the Denman scenario all over again. Lewis was blinded and I had my hands tied...

I still believed that Charlotte deserved a second chance, but that didn't mean that I wasn't hesitant or uneasy about Charlotte being back here. I know she said she'd changed, but I've seen what she has been capable of in the past. Now, I'd made the decision to trust her and give her a second shot, but it wasn't just my trust that I was banking on. It was Lewis' too.

If I trust her, he trusts her... If I don't, he doesn't...

But even despite my natural concerns and fears that were niggling in the back of my mind, I knew that things would be different this time.

We were all grown up...

We'd faced our actions, good and bad, that we'd taken in the past, equipped with our ever-growing experience for the continuous decisions and situations that still lay ahead.

_Trust me when I say that experience and trust are going to be some of the most fundamental keys to making it through the next few months..._

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><p><strong>So what did you guys think? I hope you liked it more than I did, but either way, I'd love to know what you thought about it. <strong>

**Also, do you think Charlotte's appearance is going to become more recurring? Any guesses of what else have I got in store for both Cleo & Lewis? Don't worry, more will be uncovered in a couple of chapters time!**

**Next time, Bella's POV... We'll meet her boyfriend Dan and discover what nasty secret they are hiding...**


	9. Facing Demons

**Yay for another chapter so soon! That's just one of the many beauties of summer holidays! AND, to top that off, I've also started with the chapter after this... Normally I don't make a start on that for at least 2 weeks after I update. **

**Anyway, onto the chapter. I've had this storyline planned for ages, and I'd originally gotten ideas after re-watching Rachel's domestic abuse storyline on Packed to the Rafters, but in the last month or so, there's been 2 really fantastic storylines like it which has given me so much inspiration to write this. Firstly, the recent Stu/Sasha storyline on Home and Away has just been so moving & emotive (one of my favourite from the show this year) and Demi Harman & Brenton Thwaites have portrayed the dynamics and the depth of the issue so well together. The second was on Crownies even more recently, with Indiana in fact playing Tatum who was although in love, in love with a very aggresive man, and although her fiancee Conrad wasn't physically abusive to her, he did assault several guys and verbally abused Tatum also. **

**And as a side point, if anyone's interested in how I picture this Dan, what he 'looks' like or how I imagine him, then just search _'Todd Lasance'_ into Google images or whatever search engine you use; there'll be an abudance regardless (and you'll know who I mean).**

**Also, thank you so much to all of my lovely reviewers. I really enjoy reading your opinions and I greatly appreciate your support towards my story. Thank you!**

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><p><strong>Chapter 9 – Facing Demons<strong>

_Bella's POV_

"Good morning!" I smiled, walking into the kitchen on a beautiful Saturday morning.

When I'd walked into the room, Rikki's head was craned into the fridge, before she reversed, bringing the Apple & Strawberry juice carton out with her and closed the fridge. "Morning. You're chirpy..."

I smiled, grabbing an apple out of the fruit bowl, biting into it. "I sure am!"

"Should I be worried? What have you done?" Rikki questioned cynically with a cocked eyebrow.

I smiled and shrugged. "Nothing, I'm just in a good mood today."

"Fair enough..."

Reaching into the bread bag, I grabbed a piece of bread, intending to make toast, but dropped it quickly as I saw the festering greenish-blue mould that was in the early stages of developing on the crust and outer rims of the loaf. "Ewww! There's mould on the bread!"

Nearby, I heard a groan and as I looked up, I witnessed Will's face scrunch into a frown as he placed one hand over his mouth and the other on his stomach. "Are you serious? I had a sandwich this morning!

Taking immediate action to get rid of the disgust, I put the whole loaf in the bin which was already piled up, past the lid with a banana peel and iced coffee carton delicately dominoed on top.

"Careful!" Rikki warned just as I let go of the plastic loaf bag, that due to my aimless positioning of the bulky bag, fell out of the bin, dragging the banana peel, iced coffee container and a few other scraps out of the bin with it.

"Ha! Now you have to take the rubbish out and clean up the mess, Bella. It's our rule we've got" Zane explained to me excitedly, looking as though he would start jumping up and down... assumedly because he'd palmed off yet another chore onto someone else.

"What? Why? You didn't tell me about it so it shouldn't count!" I protested, with the idea of clearing out Will & Zane's bin being very, very low on my list of things that I wanted to do.

Rikki cringed. "I did kinda warn you…"

"Fine..." I said with a sigh, giving in, but with the optimistic hope of finding a pair of gloves somewhere. It wasn't worth picking a fight with Zane over something so minor. I knew I'd cave in over the pointlessness of the argument and regardless of the little importance, any and every win was a huge ego boost for Zane...

#

10 minutes of squatting, squelching and sickening smells later, I'd finished picking everything up that had dropped out of the bin, taken in out and replaced the bag.

It was my day off, so I didn't have to bother about going in to the office at all today and considering that I'd finished my design pitch last night I didn't have any work which needed to be finished here left either, so I decided to pamper myself and paint my nails.

I only had one colour choice, a random nail polish bottle that had been floating around in my handbag for about the last month for absolutely no reason whatsoever.

After going upstairs to retrieve the bottle, I came back into the living room, walking into a silence that was extremely unusual not only for Rikki, Zane and Will individually, but it was even more unusual considering the three of them were all together in the same room.

Rikki was eating a packet of snakes, pulling each out and stretching them as far as she could without breaking them, before quickly eating them cookie-monster style. Zane was sitting cross-legged on the lounge, typing away on his laptop and Will was at the breakfast bar, scanning through the newspaper for a job, taking the occasional shot of coffee.

I sat down next to Rikki, who offered me an unappealingly morphed lolly snake, which I declined as I put my nail polish bottle on the coffee table, getting ready to add some fresh colour to my currently half painted/half chipped off nails before there was a knock at the door.

"You're the closest, Bella" Zane informed, not even bothering to look up or add a glare to the rule. The 'whoever's closest to the door or the phone answers it' rule was one of the few that I'd been brought up to scratch with.

"Seriously? When did you guys last slave die off?" I asked hypothetically, in an attempt to make my annoyance evident.

"She didn't. She's about to answer the door" Zane smirked at me, this time looking up.

I sluggishly got up from the lounge, and likely due to the long waiting time period since the first knock with no response, whoever was waiting outside knocked yet again.

"Someone's impatient…" I murmured under my breath as I opened the door.

"Hello?" I generically asked, before I'd registered _who _it was. "Dan. Oh, um, hi. What are you doing here? You weren't supposed to be getting home for another week" I said, as my increasing heart rate prompted my reaction to babble on nervously.

"Surprise!" was the only explanation I received before being hurled into a hug.

As soon I pulled out of the very long, very intense, very tight hug, Dan's lips were pursed onto mine before I knew it. That's when I got the first taste of it. The first taste that things were about to go terribly wrong again. A wave of anger swept through my body again, adding to my currently strong, bittersweet emotions.

He pulled away to take a breath and before he could go in for round two, I started talking being extra careful to mask my emotions. "So what are you doing here?"

"I wanted to surprise you and come home a bit early. I was missing you so much, Bella" he gushed, stroking my cheek.

How could he just act like everything was back to normal? Like nothing happened? Looking into his eyes before I replied, I couldn't even see one ounce of recognition or regret over what had happened the night before he left.

"But-" I started to say, before being cut off by Rikki who was approaching the two of us.

"Saliva exchanging over yet?" she smirked. "Like your surprise, Bella?"

"You knew he was coming home early?"

"Yeah. Dan called me to help him plan this out" she said, informing me with a smile. "Come in" she added, gesturing for Daniel to walk inside the house to the living and kitchen area, where we all were prior to the interruption.

He smiled, grabbing my hand and walking inside, behind Rikki, to where the other two boys still were.

"Introductions?" Dan asked me quietly, but at a volume which must've just been loud enough for Rikki to overhear.

"Oh yeah, right! Zane. Will." Rikki called out.

The two boys heads simultaneously turned around, rotating towards the three of us.

"Zane, Will, this is Daniel Shapiro. Dan, this is Zane Bennett and Will Benjamin" Rikki said, introducing the three guys to each other, with her arms gesturing to the appropriate guy as she did so.

For the next minute or so, they shook hands, greeting each other as Rikki and I stood back watching. It was surprisingly less awkward than I'd imagined - if something like this ever were to happen.

As I continued watching the boys interact, I was certain that Will had made the connection that Daniel was _Dan_ especially from our actions so far, but he didn't look affected, or even like he cared. I could live with that.

Dan on the other hand, I would've expected more of a fuss from if he had made the connection with Will, as in Will and me. He generally didn't let things like that just be. His mood at the time would've depended on how he would've reacted and if he was in a pleasant or relaxed mood, he would've teased us a bit or joked around with the situation, otherwise he would've given us, or more so me, a hard time about it and we _definitely_ wouldn't be here for long. He liked to be in control with things like that and I'd just follow his lead. At the end of the day, I knew he had good intentions and he only was like that because he cared about me.

Anyway, the guys appeared to be getting deep into a conversation, so I thought that this would as good of time as any to pull Dan out and start asking questions.

"Dan?" I quietly asked as I walked over to the three boys.

"Yeah?" he replied, before getting distracted, affectionately and softly stroking my eyebrow, before lightly kissing the side of my face where my bruises and cuts were healing. "That looks so sore Bella."

"I know. It is. Can we have a couple of minutes alone?"

He smiled and grabbed my hand. "Course we can. Lead the way Bel." I lead him out of the room by the hand, then upstairs toward the guest room where I'd been staying for the last week or so.

Walking in, he sat down on the side of the bed and I leant against the wardrobe.

"Where's Allie, Dan?" I asked with a frown.

"I left her with my parents."

I nodded. "Alright. Was she okay on the plane and stuff?"

"Yeah she was fine. Slept half of the way and drew pictures for every person she's ever met for the rest."

I took a deep breath, desperately trying to think of ways to extend the current conversation, knowing that as much as I wanted the answers to the next questions I had to ask, I really wanted to forget about it at the same time.

"What about you? How'd you go on your own?" he asked, beating me from speaking first.

"Well after the, um, fight, I went to see Rikki and I've been staying here since."

He got off the bed and grabbed my hand. "But you're coming home now, aren't you?"

I looked down, squirming my foot on the carpet, avoiding Daniel's desperate gaze. "I've had fun staying with Rikki – it's just been like one long sleepover."

"So?"

I took another deep breath, fearing my boyfriend's reaction. "So, I want to stay with Rikki a bit longer. I'm not ready to go back there yet."

"Yeah right, Bella! You want to stay here with Rikki AND those two other guys" he said with an eye roll and an increasingly angry tone.

"Well, it's their house so I kind of have to stay with them if I want to stay with Rikki."

Looking back at me again from where his gaze had been focused on his clenching fists, his nostrils were flaring up again and I felt the anger in his eyes penetrating in my direction, just as it had been the night before he left for Cairns.

"You're cheating on me, aren't you?"

"What? No!"

"Then come back with me."

All I did was clearly shake my head in response.

"But it's your home. You have to come back with me. And what about Allie? She needs you too."

My eyes started to well up with water, which I tried to hold back, in a desperate attempt to keep my fresh vulnerability unexposed.

"No! You hit me Dan! You really hurt me."

He kissed my hand as his voice softened. "I'm so sorry. I hated myself the whole time I was away for doing that to you."

"But you didn't even check to make sure I was okay! You just left."

"I know, I know. But I was just so angry, Bella. You have to understand that!"

I rolled my eyes, battling between my anger and hurt. "When you're angry with someone you _yell _at them. You don't _hit _them!"

"I'm sorry. I just lost my temper, but I'll make sure that it won't happen ever again."

I took another deep breath. "You're going to have to prove that to me first."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I'm staying with Rikki until you've proven that I can trust you not to do something like that again" I told him, turning around to walk out of the room in an attempt to end the conversation.

"Don't! Come back home with me, Bella! I can't live without you" he pleaded with me as he grabbed a hold and latched onto my wrist before I had the chance to walk back out to the hallway.

I turned around, looking him deep into the eye. "Dan, listen to me. We're not breaking up, I just really need some space and I need time to forgive you and forget about what happened. I know that you only did it and reacted that way because of everything that's happened in the past, but I can't excuse the fact that you _did_ hit me. There's no excuse for violence."

"But please! If I don't have you, I'll end up hurting myself" Daniel said, continuing to plea with me, even going so far as to pull out the guilt card, that I must say, was working.

I loved him, and I really didn't want him to hurt himself and I didn't want my conscience to have to live with the burden of that either, but I was still so traumatized from the change of person that I saw in him after his irrational freak-out.

"I just need time."

He sighed and stroked my hand. "Fine, but on one condition; you promise me that you will come back soon."

I nodded, knowing that it would be the only way I could stop Daniel from getting angry all over again. I hated it though. I hated the feeling of being 'owned' and like I was just some dog that always had to be loyal and go back to my owner. Sometimes, it felt like he was keeping me on a leash...

"Good" he confirmed, with a smile. "Now let's go back down to Rikki."

I nodded and hand-in-hand, we walked back down to the lounge room where Zane, Will and Rikki were talking.

"Back so soon?" Rikki smirked. "You guys were gone for ages."

"Yeah I know" I said, before turning to face Daniel. "Want a drink?"

"Beer would be great" he smiled, kissing my cheek.

I nodded, walking over and opening the fridge, where only very clearly labelled 'ZANE'S' and 'WILL'S' bottles were left. "Can he have one of you guy's beers? I'll pay you back for it."

"Sure; you can just grab one of mine" Will yelled out from the lounge room, prompting me to grab a 'WILL'S' beer and take it back over to my boyfriend.

"Thanks mate" Dan said thanking Will, before opening the beer and taking one huge gulp, causing the remaining liquid to be clouded by white foam sitting on top of it.

"So how was Cairns?" Rikki asked when an awkward silence was starting to form in the room.

"It was okay, but the weather was quite hot and humid and I really missed Bella" Dan said, looking over to me and putting his hand around my shoulders as we stood.

"What about Allie? How'd she go?"

He laughed. "Oh she was fine. I think she was in paradise up there, getting spoilt rotten!"

"Who's Allie?" Zane asked, before Rikki instantly grabbed my arm and pulled me into the next room.

"So, do you like your surprise?" Rikki smiled.

I nodded, figuring I should just keep our fight to myself. I mean, it'd pass over eventually and there's no real point in making a big deal about it, especially with Rikki. Cleo would be better to talk to if this ever came up in conversation.

"But is it okay if I stay here for a few days longer?"

She nodded, but with a furrowed eyebrow. "Why?"

Damn. Damn. Damn.

There in lay the fatal flaw of my secrecy.

"Oh, um, you know" I started to say, laughing awkwardly as I tried to come up with an excuse. "I'm playing 'hard to get'."

"But he's already 'got' you."

I let out another awkward laugh, in an extremely fake manner. "Yeah, I know, but what's that saying? 'Absence makes the heart grow fonder'."

"Okay... Has anyone told you you're weird? And I thought_ I_ was bad with that!" Rikki laughed and I joined with her again, until Dan stormed into the room, looking angrier and fiercer than I'd seen him all day.

"Bella" he said, grabbing my wrist and forcing me to follow him on his warpath to the front door. "Come with me."

I kept following, wordlessly; not wanting to cause a scene about whatever it was while we were in front of and in hearing-length of Rikki.

"What's going on?" I asked as we finally stopped before Daniel stopped on the driveway, pacing it back and forth angrily.

"WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME? WHY DIDN'T YOU SAY THAT YOU WERE WITH THAT BLONDE IDIOT IN THERE?" he yelled at me so loudly that I flinched in shock, while he threw his arms in my direction as well as towards the house.

"What? Will? Who told you about that?"

"YES. Or whatever that guy's name is, I DON'T CARE, but he said it was good how comfortable it was for us all and I didn't know what he meant so he explained that you guys were together for a while. WHY DIDN'T YOU SAY ANYTHING BELLA?"

I took a step back while my ears rung from the unanticipated screaming. "I was going to, but I just didn't get the chance to before now! Calm down Dan!"

"DON'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO, YOU LIAR!"

"That's not fair! I haven't been lying to you!" I said, raising my voice in desperation, my face aching from the tears that I was forcing and willing myself to not let go of in front of Daniel, especially during our current argument.

"THAT'S WHY YOU'RE WANTING TO STAY HERE! HOW DARE YOU CHEAT ON ME AND THEN LIE ABOUT IT!"

"No! I haven't ever and won't ever cheat on you! Will's got nothing to do with why I want to stay here – I told you I just want to stay here because I need time to trust you again."

Dan stopped yelling and instead his anger channelled to his fists as he clenched them tighter and tighter in contractions while he went back to pacing up and down the driveway. "It's all your fault. It's all your fault that I lost my temper in the first place! I mean, how was I supposed to react when my mate saw you out at lunch with another guy without you telling me?"

"But you immediately jumped to the wrong conclusion! Again, that was Will and I'd only seen him for the first time since we broke up and _nothing_ happened. I told him that I was with you. Ask him!"

"Whatever…" he mumbled, continuing to pace before he stepped out of the invisible circuit that he'd been trailing within, walking over to me and grabbing a hold of my wrist again. "Just get in the car, you're coming with me."

"No."

"What did you say?" he asked, although I knew that he knew perfectly well what I'd said.

"No…" I repeated so softly that I wondered whether Dan would even be able to hear me this time.

"I SAID, GET IN THE CAR!" he yelled even louder than he had in the whole yelling match before this present moment, yanking my arm to follow him.

I nodded to him as warm tears started to fill my eyes before dripping down my cheek which I quickly wiped away before following Dan, trying not to cause much more of a scene in the middle of the street.

"Okay. I'll go, just calm down. If you drive off like this, you'll kill us both" I whimpered as I was harshly pulled over to my boyfriend's car.

"Like I care right now..." I would've sworn I'd heard him mumble gruffly while he was pulling me along.

I got in, figuring that I'd just try to calm Dan down while he was driving. Either that or be silent the whole drive back to my apartment, which would just let him stew about it more ... meaning he was likely blow up at me again when we got home. I was damned if I do and damned if I don't.

I couldn't even make sense of things anymore...

_The day before the first attack happened and before any of this started, we'd been fine. We'd been perfect. It was just me, Dan & Allie against the world. We were a team. However, the next morning, Dan had gotten a call from one of his mates, it was Lincoln, I think, then straight after he'd gotten off the phone, Dan lost it. And I mean lost it..._

_He started yelling at me, swearing his head off, slamming doors and walking in and out of rooms aimlessly in a rage. He even broke a porcelain bowl that he Frisbee-slid off of the kitchen bench for no reason. I don't even know what Lincoln said to him, but I was assuming from what Dan was yelling at me, that Lincoln had seen me and Will out for lunch, and even though _**_nothing_**_ happened between us, he could've exaggerated the truth or been drunk and stupidly added bits to his 'report'._

_I really didn't know who the monster was that Daniel turned into after that, but he demanded to search my phone, checking all of my calls, texts, emails and even photos. He checked my bag, purse, checked my lunch dockets, bank account, everything. He went psycho. When he'd started going through all of my things, I had yelled back at him, telling him he was overreacting over nothing, which resulted in him slapping me for the first time..._

_I was in shock after that. I'd never, ever expected that he'd lose it that badly. Before he'd even attacked me, I was aching and hurting so badly inside after the slab of trust that I'd had in him being shattered beyond belief just from one slap. I retreated to another room, locking myself inside, just sitting there sobbing on my own while I heard the continuation of the banging, smashing and grunts of anger outside the room. I knew he'd get a bit angry if he knew I'd had lunch with another guy and he wasn't there, that's why I was so hesitant to accept Will's offer in the first place, but Dan could and should trust me - nothing would've happened..._

_By about half an hour later, he'd calmed down and he'd started knocking on the door of the locked room, pleading with me to open up and let him. After five minutes, I gave in, letting him in, knowing that he'd start getting really angry again if I didn't soon which would then likely result in a broken door too. He started apologizing to me like crazy, attempting to hug and kiss me, but I didn't want to have a bar of it. I knew he wouldn't be happy with that either, but I couldn't just let it pass and let him think that he could do that without there being any consequences, so I ignored him, walking off, not even looking him in the eye. It was after that when the night reached its climax..._

_Trying to get my attention and trying to force me to acknowledge him, he started shoving me; shoving my arm, shoulders, hip and stomach - whatever was in reach of his hand. I finally succumbed, giving him the attention he was wanting and longing for before his continuous shoves would start to form bruises. I begged him to go away and leave me alone, but by this stage he was fuming again. He yelled things about how I supposedly thought that I wasn't good enough for him, that I was cheating on him and that I'd get what I deserved. I was so scared. So, so scared. _

_His voice was so loud that it made my heart pound.. it was the only noise I could hear. His eyes were filled with hate and rage.. opened so wide, looking so threatening and unpredictable. I noticed his body and muscles clenching up, moving closer to me as his fierce yelling got more intense. My stomach was churning and I was fighting back tears when he let that anger out on me... _

_I can't remember the whole attack and the sequencing, only segments. I remember hitting the wall from the impact of one punch which brought more shock and bruises than anything, I remember the rhythm of several violent hand swings which resulted in scratches on my face, I remember several more hits and kicks that then made up the other bruises and scratches and then I remember falling in the path of the kitchen bench from the impact of a hit, which created the nasty cut over my eyebrow._

_I remember the only noises I could hear was the __noise from the impact of me landing on or against objects and the continous yelling. I remember holding my hands against the most sore and painful points and either not being able to touch the bruising or taking my hand away, to discover my fingertips were tainted with fresh blood from what I didn't realize where cuts. _

_But the overwhelming pain, the traumatic noise and the memories of the attack were nothing. Nothing compared to the pain which followed Daniel's outburst... _

_I remember crying, begging, pleading for Dan to help me, but all he did was take one last shocked look at me, turn around and walk out. I knew his anger caused his outburst... it was my fault. My mistake of not telling him triggered the anger, which lead to the attack, but the last look I got of him before he walked out, I saw the real Daniel. I could see it in his eyes. He was shocked and he just left. He could see that I was hurt, he could see that I was in pain, he could see what he had done, but no, he just turned around, walked out and acted as though nothing had happened. _

_That's what hurt me the most..._

_That's what left me wondering whether he even cared about me anymore and whether our relationship was even salvageable. _

_I loved Daniel, I really did and I would be more than willing to forgive him about this... if he was sorry. But he wasn't._

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><p><strong>So, how's everyone feeling about Daniel now? I doubt that he's going to have very many supporters at the moment and some of you might even be wondering why the heck Bella's still with him, but in an upcoming deep &amp; meaningful conversation, you'll see the more stable and loving side of their relationship. <strong>

**Also, any Aussies out there heard about H&A star Dan Ewing's real life arrest and assault charges against his fiancee Marni last Tuesday? **

**Anyway, I would love to know what you thought. Reviews really mean the world to me and make my day!**

**Next chapter: Will & Zane make a very startling and confusing discovery... What is it and who is affected? **


	10. Don't Go There!

**Sorry for the lack of updates, but the heat's really gotten to me this summer and knocked me about so I haven't had the brain power, energy or inspiration to update sooner than now, not to mention a spout of writers block and inner unhappiness over this chapter. Anyway, I've FINALLY managed to get this up. Here it is! Enjoy another new chapter that comes with another new puzzle...**

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><p><em>"My life; My choices; My problems; My mistakes; My lessons. None of your business... and mind your own problems before you talk about mine."<em>

**~Unknown~**

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><p><strong>Chapter 10 – Don't Go There! <strong>

Zane's P.O.V

A few weeks passed and Will, Rikki & I all slowly started to get into a bit of a routine and things had started to settle down. Will and I worked on Rikki getting used to our rules of the house, and although she added a few of her own rules too, she surprisingly seemed to abide by ours. We all started to connect on the same page and any previous awkwardness gradually faded away.

It was actually a pretty good set up and any household decisions, big or small, were ruled by Democracy and consensus.

Anyway, it was midday on Friday, and I realized rent was just about due. It was no big deal for me, because my Dad surprisingly still gave me a generous sum of pocket money, but I knew Will had a bit of trouble keeping up with the shared rent payments and generally needed a bit of notice, and although she'd been frequent with paying rent since she had moved in, I was aware of Rikki's previous financial situation, although I had no idea of her current financial stand.

"Oh good" I stated as Will walked into the room, walking past me to grab a glass, filling it up at the tap. "Can we talk?"

He nodded as he gulped his mouthful down, leaning against the bench. "Yeah?"

"Um, rent's due again... are you able to get it in or do you want me to cover the cost for a couple of days longer?" I enquired.

I watched as Will's cheeks flushed, while he looked away, scratching the back of his head. "Sorry for doing this to you, again, but can I have a few more days? Sophie should be paying me back a couple of hundred this week that I lent to her."

I nodded at him, pre-occupied, while I transferred a small percentage out of the horde of money that was sitting in my bank account – untouched.

I looked up as I heard Will leaving the room. "Oi! Will!" I shouted to get his attention without moving from my comfy position that was currently luringly moulded to my shape and comfort.

"Yeah?"

"Are you going back upstairs? Can you ask Rikki to pay me later or can you grab her rent money off her?"

"Zane Bennett the entrepreneur!" Will laughed as he left the room, which was followed by a series of 'doof, doof, doof's' as he sprinted upstairs, referring to all the money I was playing around and dealing with - like it was just a card game.

Five or so minutes later, I wasn't keeping an eye on the time, Will returned, walking back into the lounge room where I still hadn't moved from the lounge.

"THERE'LL BE TWO FIFTY'S AND A TWENTY" Rikki yelled out, surprisingly clearly considering the distance, lack of echo and the noise gate from her bedroom upstairs to be heard from the further-most room on the bottom storey... I guess all that swimming must seriously help her lung capacity and perhaps vocal chords.

After locating Rikki's handbag, which was sandwiched in-between the back of the lounge and a cushion, he yelled back to her in acknowledgement, deafening me in the process.

"Frickin' hell... this could be mistaken for Mary Poppin's' carpet bag" Will commented as he shuffled through her handbag, pulling out a camera, multiple camera lenses, a empty bag of lollies, packet of gum, mini bag and box.

"Uh huh..." I replied, half-heartedly, not really listening and hoping whatever he'd said wasn't a question.

"Zane? Am I _really_ out of the news-feed loop?" he asked randomly, which triggered my attention more so than his previous statement.

I looked up, with no clue what he was referring to, but wondering where his strange question had came from all of a sudden out of the blue... Maybe it was some test to check if I was really listening to him or something? "No I don't think so. Why? What's that supposed to mean?

In one hand he was holding Rikki's open purse, and in the other hand, a box. "Is Rikki pregnant?"

Neither of us spoke as we shared confused looks, trying to work out why our housemate had an at-home pregnancy test in her handbag.

In all honesty, at first, I was a bit hurt - not that that's something I'd ever, ever publicly admit. I mean, I didn't know that Rikki had a boyfriend, she'd never said anything about a guy, or even if she did, I _hated _the idea of her having a baby with someone else. That's what feelings and an attraction to somebody made you feel... jealous and defensive, regardless of the situation.

Right on cue, we heard Rikki thumping down the stairs, urging us to escape from our silently shocked trance before she entered. Will threw the box back into Rikki's handbag, grabbed the money, handed it to me and chucked her purse back into her bag before flopping down next to me on the lounge quickly.

We both watched Rikki silently, as she walked in, oddly looking from Will, to me, back to Will.

"Rikki, are you feeling okay?" I asked softly as she grabbed her handbag and hung it off her shoulder, completely oblivious to our discovery.

Still examining us weirdly, she nodded. "Apart from being a little bit disconcerted by you guy's creepiness, I'm fine."

We both nodded, looking at each other, trying to establish whether we were being fed the truth, or just a porky.

"I think this is my cue to leave you two freaks alone again... Bye" she added before walking out of the room, followed by a slam of the front door seconds later.

"She seems normal... too normal. And she doesn't _look_ pregnant" I commented, breaking the silence that Rikki had since left.

Will agreed. "I guess so..."

"It's probably not even hers."

Will's face scrunched up with confusion. "What was it doing in _her_ bag then?"

I shrugged. "I don't know... maybe she was going to give it to someone else."

He nodded. "Maybe it's for Cleo or something."

"Cleo? Couldn't Lewis get that sort of thing for her? It could be for Bella..."

Will frowned. "Well she's got a boyfriend too so why would she go to Rikki? Besides, if it was in _Rikki's _bag, then it means it probably belongs to _Rikki_."

Then it struck me as I realized why he too was getting so defensive about Bella. He was just like me. He didn't want his ex-girlfriend having someone else's baby just like I didn't. But that didn't meant that I was about to go soft on him...

"Besides, a couple of weeks ago when Bella was still staying here she said to Rikki that she felt sick after breakfast, remember?"

"Yeah I do, but that was after _Rikki_ made breakfast, remember that? Not only is that enough to make someone sick, but she never cooks if she doesn't have to, so she could've been going all maternal and 'mumsy'."

I scoffed, rapidly feeling competitive over our debate that shouldn't have had anything to do with either of us. "That's not a reason, it's a coincidence and 'mumsy's' not a word you idiot!"

"Well I know that Bella _always_ feels sick after she has pancakes, so your 'reason' isn't even applicable either" Will smirked back at me.

"But she has a boyfriend! She's one level up from Rikki on the 'likelihood' chart!" I exclaimed.

Will's face scrunched up a little more as he looked at me with an expression that was only describable as being a cross between disbelieving and weird before he continued with our debate. "Likelihood chart? Who's the idiot now? Besides, Rikki has never actually said that she _doesn't_ have a boyfriend, she just hasn't mentioned one. Even if she isn't with someone, that doesn't mean anything definite."

My anger was twisting into a temporary hatred and dislike of my mate. I hated how Will was bringing up points and implying slutty remarks which added to the horrendous thought. And I had no other information that could extinguish the flames of the figurative fire that was increasing and rising in the matter of suspecting Rikki. So instead, still not backing down, I resulted to attempting to inject his thoughts with a measly measure of guilt.

"I thought Rikki was your friend..."

He nodded. "She is. Well according to me I think she's my friend, but if you asked Rikki that may be a different story. But our friendship, or whatever it is, has nothing to do with this. I'm just basing _this_ and my opinion of this on the cold hard facts."

"Oh it's so more than just facts Will. Admit it. You're biased. You just don't want the test to be for Bella. Besides, what about all those photos of the other little girl? She's already got one child so it's obviously not that much of a far-fetched matter for her."

Will's focus point and sight looked away from me, peering off to the right in the distance as his lips pursed and jaw rocked slowly back and forth a few times. "That's the thing I don't understand, Zane. If she's got one child already, I don't know how it could look that old. It might just be a niece or cousin of one of theirs or it could be another friend's child, but I don't know. It just didn't look like that." His jaw-rocking stopped and as his gaze slowly returned to me, I knew something was up with him.

"It's just that, they... they looked like a family" Will added, before his lips pursed again with a blank expression.

"What about it?" I asked, not quite understanding what the effect and relativity of his turmoil played and the role it beared.

He exhaled, straightening his upward position slightly more. "She _told_ me she's only been with her boyfriend for 9 months. I mean, I've never been good at maths, but I can at least add up. So if it is theirs, she has either been lying to me about how long they've been together... or she was cheating on me before we broke up. Unless..."

"Unless what?"

"Unless the little girl isn't his..."

I nodded wordlessly, understanding where Will was coming from more so now.

"But still, Bella would of _definitely_ of had to know that she was pregnant when we broke up. Why would she hide that from me?"

I really had no insight into Bella's mind; especially the depth of reasoning or choices that Will's unanswered questions were posing so I just sided with the idea of giving Will more general information that I knew on the topic that I really didn't have much knowledge in. Whether my facts would be any help to him or whether they made him feel even worse was still yet to be decided and known.

"Well did you know that one of my dad's associate's daughter's had no idea that she was pregnant until 2 months or something before she had her baby, and remember there was that water polo player, Keli Lane or something. No-one knew she was pregnant the whole time and then she murdered the baby a couple of days after she had the kid... well that second part's irrelevant, but my point is that she did that without absolutely anyone finding out that there even was a baby for years. It's not impossible to hide or not know something like that."

He paused, appearing to contemplate and consider my speech. "Yeah I guess so, but why would Bella do that? Why wouldn't she say anything to me? Both of us wanted kids. That's what makes me think that it isn't mine and that she was cheating or something."

I nodded and despite the fact that I didn't say anything extra in addition to Will about it, I had to admit that it was quite strange.

"Anyway, what were we talking about before that little conversation?" I asked trying to move on from the frets of my friend that was still silent.

"Who's test it is" he answered as his sulky disposition returned.

I nodded, coming up with a plan on the spot to try and defuse my mate's unusually glum and intense mood, because it was not enjoyable to be around, not to mention no fun.

"How bout we call Lewis? Ask if it's Cleo's. It probably is, and all this fruit-looping and weirdness is for nothing."

He nodded, as his forehead creased up slightly more with each nod. "Okay. But you're making the call. It's kinda awkward calling him, just to check if his wife's pregnant!"

I frowned, knowing that I'd lose a heck of a lot of respect if anyone found out that I'd made the ridiculous call and asked Lewis_ that_, so I handed the burden back to Will. "Nup mate. I'm not doing it. No way no."

He looked away, not impressed but appearing to be contemplating his options before replying in a growl. "Fine. Just gimme the bloody phone."

I leaned over to the coffee table from my spot on the lounge and grabbed Will's unprotected iPhone, tossing it to him which in hindsight could've very possibly ended badly if it wasn't for my great aim and his good reflexes.

I watched as he unlocked it, tapping a few buttons and raising the object to his ear before walking out of the room. As I heard muffled talking coming from the hall, I returned to the bank transactions that I'd been going over before the um, disruption. Then after what felt deceptively felt like a few seconds, but in actual fact was a lot longer, Will walked back into the room silently, clutching his phone tight.

"And? What did he say?" I asked, not sure if Will would've even volunteered information without me asking or at least prompting the question I wanted to know from him.

He sat down on the single lounge seat closest to the TV, with a blank expression and appearing to have no intention to respond, well not soon anyway.

"He didn't know what I was talking about. He asked if I was drunk or whether you'd dared me."

I nodded, realizing what that had the possibility of meaning. "Okay..."

That's when Will's positivity kicked in. "I guess that doesn't mean anything's set in stone, either way, with any of them..."

I was still sceptical about the whole thing, but went along with it for now, before I came up with a much better idea for the meantime, having the strength to get up and walk over to the fridge, grabbing a handful of un-opened beer bottles, ditching one at Will, keeping one to myself and putting the remaining beers on the coffee table.

As Will unscrewed the lid off the beer he was holding and threw the lid nowhere except in the straight direction of the wall, I explained the presence of the half a dozen beers so early. "I think 'happy hour' is coming early today otherwise this is gonna do our heads in..."

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><p><strong>So, maybe-baby! .. Another mystery's thrown into the pot! Any guesses or thoughts on the happenings of this chapter and the boy's unexpected discovery? Is the test for Rikki? Bella? Cleo? I can guarantee the test causing all this confusion is definitely for one of the trio. I would love to know what you guys are thinking! <strong>

**Next chapter: 'Tipping Point'! **


	11. Tipping Point

**FINALLY! Another update! Sorry that this one's taken so long guys! I finished most of this chapter weeks ago, but then about three quarters of the way through, I got writers block and had no inspiration for the rest of the chapter. But thank you to my beautiful, beautiful free periods at school I can spend a lot more time writing! Anyway, thank you to everyone that reviewed the last chapter and double thanks to everyone that guessed! All will be revealed soon!**

**Hope you enjoy the chapter :) **

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><p><strong>Chapter 11 – Tipping Point <strong>

_Rikki's POV_

Things had been so rough for me these last 7 weeks, and no-one knew how much so.

No-one knew the emotional toll and the inner guilt that wracked me and _no-one_ knew what it felt like.

The girls had been there for me in the beginning, offering themselves up whenever I'd needed them (which wasn't often), but after a few weeks they moved on and slowly began to forget. They didn't have the fresh, deep scar that was left inside of them that was always there for the time being, **not** just when things were unbearably bad, and it likely always would be there, marking the memory of numb heartbreak that I'd never had to experience so deeply before in my life.

Like with everything and anything in life, I had my good days and bad days and I'd found some things that worked for me on the in-between days. I had ways I could manage, keep a good cover, but inside it hurt. It hurt like hell. The numb; the loneliness; and the guilt that I'd betrayed him when he'd needed me most.

It had been 52 days since my Dad passed away and 53 days since I'd last spoken to him.

The day before he'd died, we'd been arguing about the most pointless and minor thing in the world that I can't even remember what is was now... Probably something to do with chores around the house, pulling my weight, or something like that. I believe that I had claimed to have done whatever I had to do and that I had cleaned the certain things that I'd needed to clean (as we split whatever had needed to be done), but whether I'd actually done them or whether Dad was right in insisting that I hadn't, I can't remember. The whole fight and lead up to the fight was just a numb, dimly lit memory in my mind, which I was being kept very much in the dark of. Anyway, to the point, we had been fighting and like with most of our fights, neither of us would back down being the stubborn pig-heads we were.

I was so, so angry with myself and I was killing myself on the inside with the _'what if's'_. What if we'd never fought that day? Had that stressed him out? What if I'd stayed home and just sulked in my room instead of spending the night out, only out of spite? Could I of saved him? Why the hell hadn't I swallowed my selfish stubbornness?

He'd died of a heart attack in the kitchen area of our trailer. The ambos didn't even know exactly how long he'd been dead for before I came home to find his motion-less, pulse-less and life-less body lying there in the middle of the floor.

I didn't cry at all that day. I didn't cry from the shock of finding my father lying there dead. I didn't cry when I had to officially identify his body at the morgue, marking the last time that I would ever be seeing him in the flesh. I didn't cry at his funeral when everyone was meant to be saying their final goodbyes, feeling closure and remembering the good and the bad of his shortened life. I didn't cry one single tear.

I was in shock the entire time, and the only effect his death had on me for a week was the inability to breathe normally, having short, gasping breaths. I wasn't asthmatic, but that's what it was like. I couldn't breathe and it wasn't something that Ventolin and a puffer could fix for me.

The first time I had cried was 8 days after his death, 3 days after the funeral when I accidently knocked a plate off the bench and it broke, smashing into 5 decent sized pieces. It wasn't like there was porcelain everywhere or that it had cut me, nothing like that, but it just triggered everything. I fell apart. Once I'd started crying, I couldn't stop and before I consciously knew it, I was screaming everything out that I'd bottled up inside of me since my dad's death. I spent the rest of the night crying, helplessly crawling up into a lonely ball, sobbing myself to sleep until my cries were dry and tearless.

Let me just make it clear that I'm **not** an emotional basket case like I was that day anymore. That extreme tipping point of sadness only lasted about 12 hours until things started piecing together again and I swallowed that much-needed 'spoonful of cement'. Every now and then when I was particularly stressed or emotional things got on top of me and I just had to step back and take a breather, but I was managing.

Thank goodness that I'm used to being an independent person or else I believe that I would've been hit a lot harder. I dealt with the loneliness that some people may find hard to handle, like not having someone to greet me and ask how my day was when I got home from work, but I found the hardest thing was coming home to the trailer house that I'd shared with my father, making meals and standing where his lifeless body had been found, not to mention having an entire room filled with his worldly possessions and the memories that came with those items. That's why I moved out in the first place and that is why I had been looking for a new place to live when I'd come to check out the Bachelor Pad... coming across Zane & Will also. The desperation of finding somewhere to live was why I'd accepted Zane's offer, or plea when I'd walked off as soon as I saw their faces at the house which had initially been concealed by the other side of the door.

Even though sorting through my dad's room was a task that I'd deemed unbearable and impossible (I hired a cleaner when I moved out of the trailer to go through and chuck out all of his personal belongings and requested that the furniture should be given to a charity organization), I couldn't even work up the courage to go through his personal belongings that had been on him or in his clothes at the time which I'd been given by the morgue a few days after the coroner's inquest was completed. I _knew_ and expected what was going to be in there –his wallet, phone, maybe a loose business card or screw- but I just couldn't bring myself to go through that brown paper bag that was lying in the back of my wardrobe. It was so stupid and I'd begged and pleaded with myself mentally _so_ many times to just do it, get it over and done with and move on, but it was too hard.

Today though, I planned to change that. I had the house to myself, Will was out job-hunting and Zane was catching up with a different friend who lived interstate but was back here for a holiday, and I didn't expect either of them to come home any time soon so it was the rare and perfect opportunity for me to do it. I had to let go of it, face it and move on.

Taking a deep breath, I got up and made my way to my room upstairs, taking another deep breath before I opened the wardrobe door, not even realizing that I'd needed so much oxygen. Grabbing the brown bag from the back of the wardrobe where it had been hidden away, I noticed my skin starting to feel clammy and sweat started to form on my forehead and on the skin under my neck that was hidden by my hair.

After a minute or so of just sitting and holding it, I carelessly ripped into the bag, figuring I should just treat it like I would if I was taking off a bandaid. Get it over with quickly. The first thing I saw was a screwdriver. I had no idea how that could've been in his pocket… unless he'd been holding it, but it nonetheless obviously had. The next thing was his wallet, clean and pressed tightly together, moulded slightly by the constant pressure from his jean pockets. I didn't open the wallet to check what cards or how much money there was in there, I wanted to keep it the exact way it had been the last time my Dad had put it back into his pocket for the last time. Then the last thing left in the bag was a few coins of spare change, totaling about 70 cents of value. I smiled slightly, but sadly, noting that even though his wallet and those coins had been so close, he hadn't bothered to put them in with his other coins. That was the typical thing sort of that my Dad would do.

That was it. That was all. Those mere, futile objects had been so hard for me to face and it was a constant mental burden that I kept on putting off and putting off, but it was all done now.

Maybe it was a 'closing of the book', 'end of an era' sort of sadness, I couldn't distinguish it but I knew it was there. I felt so sad and numb and I had no control over the welling up of tears that refused to fall and leave my eyes.

That was when things got brilliant. Just _brilliant._ It was one of those corny, more-than-a-coincidence timing's when I'd cursed myself mentally as Zane walked past my door, looking in at my open room momentarily on his way past. Seconds laterm, when I thought he was gone, he reversed backwards, looking puzzled inside my open bedroom where I was sitting on my bed, facing the door and hoping like hell to not look too upset.

"Rikki? What's up? Why are you crying?" he asked, inviting himself in to my room and walking over to my bed but remaining standing as he towered over me.

"Nothing. It's none of your business," I stated frankly, managing to disguise the sadness in my voice with annoyance.

"_Oh_…" he said slowly, as he sat down next to me but keeping at least a good 30 centimeters of space between us.

"It's okay, Rikki. We're all here for you, you'll be okay" he said reassuringly but I had no idea why.

I momentarily considered that he'd known or somehow found out about my dad, but I dismissed that thought, realizing that I hadn't even talked to Cleo or Bella about it in weeks, so I just looked at him puzzled and bewildered which he obviously took as a sign to continue talking. He awkwardly patted my shoulder, much reminding of the 'pat yourself on the back' sort of praise that was drilled into kindergarteners and primary school children. However, in Zane's case, the pat was a lot more solemn than a 'well done!'.

"You don't have to raise a baby on your own, Rikki. All your friends and family are here for you too" he said seriously, while I, on the other hand, nearly choked.

Zane thought _I _was pregnant.

I felt sick from amusement with the hilarious situation that I'd found myself in, but quickly made the split second decision to keep the charade up. He always was a know-it-all and thought he knew everything and this was an opportunity far too perfect to refuse and put to waste. It was practically handed to me on a silver platter and all I had to do was pull out my rusty drama and acting skills.

"How do you know?" I whispered softly in response.

"Will found the test in your bag when he was getting your rent money" he said, continuing to speak softly and calmly, but I on the other hand had to bite my tongue and stop myself from bursting out in a laughing fit. He was so serious and sensible!

Before speaking, I made sure I bit my lip to prevent any laughter escaping accidently. "Oh…"

"Yeah…" he said awkwardly, before pausing and asking another question. "So who's the father? Do I know the guy?"

I nodded, and witnessed his eyebrow prick up in curiosity as a scowl started to form on his lips. "Who is it?"

I let out a sigh, trying to sound sad and serious. "Buzz Light-Year, Zane. I'm having Buzz's baby."

He rolled his eyes, obviously annoyed. "Don't joke Rikki. It's not exactly a joking matter."

"I'm not laughing" I commented, adding the "yet" inaudibly and under my breath.

He looked over to me seriously again, "So who is it then?"

"I told you. Buzz" I said, smirking while Zane on the other hand sighed with frustration.

"Be serious."

I bit my lip, clamping down on the smile that was starting to linger on my lips. "I am."

"Rikki…" he said, sounding like a threat was to follow after it, but the only thing that followed was another question. "Wait are you even pregnant, Rikki?"

I shrugged. "Well according to you I am."

Watching as his face appeared to transform from shock, to a smile, to annoyance and then back to shock again pushed me over the edge and I started laughing hysterically, awkwardly howling like a hyena.

Once I'd calmed down, Zane had evolved to just shaking his head with a bit of a smirk. "You are cruel…"

Shrugging again, I smiled. "Thanks for cheering me up at least!"

"But wait a minute, if it's not for you, then who's it for?" he asked as his smirk faded from his face slightly.

There's no way I'd tell that to Zane. First of all, she'd murder me and second of all, I think he expected that he wouldn't be finding out anyway. "Well it's definitely not for me, you can know that much, but the rest is for me to know Zane. Mind your own business."

He nodded, not looking that interested, proving my point as he changed the subject. "So if _that_ wasn't what was wrong, then what was wrong?"

Raising an eyebrow, I looked over at him a lot calmer after my laughing fit, but not exactly planning to spill my guts out to Zane any time soon. "That's something else for me to know, Mr Know-It-All."

He shrugged his shoulders simply. "Well you know if you don't tell me I might let my imagination run wild again... I might think that you're crying alone because of a terminal illness that you're hiding... OR even better; maybe you're crying beacuse Nate rejected you. I'm sure you'd cry over that!"

Taking a deep breath, I decided to try something, but not because I was talking to Zane, not because I'd been thinking about it and not that I needed someone to know and be 'there for me', I just said it for me and for _my_ sake. They always say that saying your worst fears out aloud can help you rationalize them, right? Surely that works for pain too…

"My dad's dead" I stated simply, exhaling and trying to sense if I felt any better about it…. Nope.

Catching a glance of Zane's shocked look, I instantly regretted just blurting it out… and why Zane? Why couldn't I of decided to blurt in front of a random at the supermarket or something? Anyone. The last thing that I wanted was another issue for the boys to tip-toe around me with and another reason for them to treat me like a precious, fragile China doll.

"I'm so sorry Rikki. When did that happen? Are you okay?" he asked with the sort of concern and care I didn't need, nor want. So I left.

Getting up and walking off, I cursed myself for being so bold and trying that, mentally noting not to do it again.

#

When I left, I went for a walk around the block, ducking into the deli and just walked around the shop for like 5 minutes pointlessly (annoying the shop keeper I think), especially considering I had no money on me, so I left there too and took the longer way home, passing a little park and a basketball court that even despite living in the general area for 5 years, I had never known existed before today.

Eventually getting home as the sun was setting, I saw Will's car parked out front now, obviously symbolizing the fact he was now home too.

As I walked inside, I was kind of surprised by the scene I had walked into. Bizarre was an understatement. Will was standing and balancing on the end of the stairs handle, waving his arms around to balance his tall, lanky frame from at least a metre above the ground, while ducking his head slightly to obviously avoid ploughing a hole through the roof. Walking through to the living area, I witnessed Zane jump over the coffee table from one couch to the other, before balancing himself and trying to extend his leg over to the foot-stool that was probably just over two metres away from his spot on the couch.

"What are you dags doing?" I asked, sitting down at the table and watching the two who were intently focused on their balance and calculating the distance between one object to the next.

"Trying to see if we can make it from one side of the room to the other without touching the floor" Zane stated, before taking a quick running start from one end of the couch to the next and jumping off, flying straight past the stool which his foot only brushed by before he stacked it, falling straight onto the tiles with an amusing face-plant.

"Oooh" I grimaced with a smile, enjoying watching the two being idiots. "Hey at least your foot _touched_ the stool Zane… as for the rest of your body though…"

Zane got up with a frown, ignoring my comment as Will pounced down from the banister, throwing his arms up over his head in the air, screaming his victory. "I WIN! Suck on that Bennett boy!"

Zane frowned, turning away from him, silent and pouting, evident that he was in a bad mood and likely was suffering from a sore ego. Will walked over to him, starting to joke around and tease Zane over his win, while Zane's head was hanging down towards the floor, probably in shame, as he tried to avoid his friend who followed him through to the kitchen where he grabbed a can out of the fridge, still having not said a word since his losing-fall.

Getting up and walking out of the room, laughing a little as Will continued to mock and tease, I was going to go upstairs and edit a couple of photos for another folio I was working on at the moment, but was stopped when Zane bounded past me and grabbed my arm, to stop me just as I was about to walk upstairs.

"What do you want?" I asked slightly annoyed at him… and still annoyed with myself considering my poor judgment over who I had blurted out to.

"I haven't told Will about your dad by the way" he said, his grasp still on my arm, which I nudged away.

I crossed my arms, turning around to face him. "I was expecting you and your blabber mouth would…"

"Hey, I'm full of surprises, Rikki…" he smirked egoistically, which has obviously healed back quickly since his loss against Will, earning himself a scoffed eye roll from me.

"Honestly, Zane, I couldn't care less who knows, but I don't want you to tip-toe around me. Treat me like you would as if I was any other friend."

Scratching his chin, Zane nodded. "Treat you like any of my other friend, hey? I can arrange to get you chocolates, a deepest sympathy Hallmark card, some pretty flowers and a sad movie we can watch together then, I guess."

I looked at him cynically, slightly weirded out and he added to his spiel. "Joke."

"Seriously, Zane. I just want to be treated like an equal. Like I'm just one of the boys too… Can you do that for me?" I asked, informing him of my wishes.

"You sure?" he questioned, raising an eyebrow and looking at me for assurance.

With that, I nodded definitively. "Yes, Zane, I'm sure."

"Alright… _bro_" he added awkwardly, as I burst out laughing. "Bro? Do you and Will seriously call each other 'bro'?"

He shook his head. "Not really. We've got more of a _mate_ or _man_ kind of thing going on." I nodded in acknowledgement.

"So…" Zane said awkwardly in-between the mist of silence that had filled the room since he last spoke. "No chance of a group hug?"

I laughed, figuring that he wasn't serious. "You've got to be kidding me, Zane. So much for the 'treating me like any other friend' idea!

He shrugged with a smirk. "What would you know? For all you know, Will and I could hug all the time…"

"But you don't" I stated simply and to the point, feeling determined to not give Zane _any_ satisfaction over his excuses.

"Hey you'd be surprised!" he laughed as I rolled my eyes at him, ignoring him and yelling out to the kitchen from where I was standing. "Oi Will, come out here."

I heard a loud groan, followed by the sound of footsteps as he walked in the room and over to us, questioning me grumpily. "What do you want?"

"Yes or no question; Do you and Zane hug frequently?"

He looked at me with confusion momentarily before quickly answering back. "What? No! Eww, I've never hugged him before in my life!"

Awkwardly scratching his chin, Zane grimaced. "Uh sorry mate, but you have…"

"What? When? No I haven't" he frowned, strongly disagreeing with Zane.

"You have. You'd been out drinking one night and when you got home, I was still up. I have no idea who you thought I was but you were mumbling all sorts of stuff and then you hugged me… it was awkward" he said with a slow, regretful nod and an evident cringe.

Smirking in amusement, I got even more of a kick from Zane's confession after I noticed Will's cheeks changing colour that appeared to be undecided between going a beetroot purple or tomato red colour. He turned away from us quickly, looking towards the door that anyone who'd just walked into the room would've thought that he was really interested about.

"So what's for dinner? Indian or Chinese?" he asked as he changed the subject and still looking at the inanimate door.

"Chinese" I stated quickly, but about .2 seconds after Zane had chosen the opposite option of Indian.

We looked at each other silently, neither of us wanting to cave in, but wondering who would be the first to at least_ try_ to come to a mutual agreement.

"Oh come on, Rikki… I really feel like Indian tonight."

I shook my head, stating my case for Chinese and deciding to try and mock Zane at the same time. "Oh come on, Zane… I really feel like Chinese tonight. Besides I'm 'eating for two', right?"

Will's head flung around from his gaze of forced interest at the door. "So you are pregnant, Rikki?" he asked quickly and I would've sworn I'd seen an inkling of happiness in the guy's face - I wasn't happy.

"No; well, unless you ask Zane."

His face dropped a little as he turned back to the door. "Just make a decision over Chinese or Indian then."

"Please Rikki! We had Chinese a few nights ago!" he asked in a whiny, begging manner.

"Yeah, and we had Indian _last _night!"

He shrugged. "So?"

"So I don't think too much Indian is good for the baby. Mother knows best" I smirked.

He rolled his eyes. "You're never gonna let me live this down now, are you?"

I laughed. "Probably not. Face it, Zane. You've given me an opportunity that's way too good to pass up."

"Not fair…"

I shrugged. "Life isn't fair, Zane."

Briefly patting him on the back as I got up and started walking away, I looked back over my shoulder at the two boys. "And we're having Chinese" I informed them, making sure it was non-negotiable, before I walked out of the room with a smirk.

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><p><strong>So, another chapter from me; now it's your turn to let me know what you thought about it. I hope there wasn't too many mistakes through the chapter... I wanted to get this up so badly, that I'm editing this half-asleep, sick. Not a good combination! So I'm hoping it wasn't<strong>** too unbearable.**

**Next chapter: **

**# After her friends discover her abusive relationship, Bella downwards spiral begins with shame and **embarrassment.****

**# Through Bella, a hidden secret of Zane's past is revealed, coming back to haunt him.**

**I've nearly finished the next chapter, so I'll try getting that one up as soon as possible too...**


	12. Moments Of Truth

**An update! Finally! I'm hoping that you can forgive me for the slightly longer wait because, OMG, this chapter is nearly 9,000 words (was a nightmare to edit!)! I was considering chopping it in half, but I don't really like the idea of having a part one, part two chapter over the same characters P.O.V, plus there wasn't really a good spot that I could split it on without all the drama only being in one half of the chapter or the other and there was a lot to get through, hence the super-mega-freakin-long chapter was born. **

**Enjoy the chapter of revelations! :D**

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><p><strong><em>"Ever thought about getting out?" Romeo Smith<em>**  
><strong><em>"You don't what it's like – mate, it's the black hole." Casey Braxton<em>**  
><strong><em>"So you're not even gonna try?" Romeo Smith<br>"I will…One day" Casey Braxton~ Home And Away_**

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><p><strong>Chapter 12 – Moments Of Truth <strong>

_Will's POV_

Since I'd confided in Zane that day after my discovery of the mysterious pregnancy test in Rikki's bag (which was still an open-ended mystery) about my confusion and concerns of Bella's mystery, not to mention, the phantom child and where it fit into the big picture, whenever I thought about it, I only got myself more churned up, thinking about what the result really is, either way.

I knew that I had to know the answer, whatever it was, but I had no idea how I was going to approach that huge, daunting matter. It's not exactly something that you ask someone every day: _"Hey, how's it going? Just wondering, but is that my kid?"_ No. And it's hardly a topic that you can weave into, or bring up in a conversation either: _"That's a cute baby… it looks a little bit like me. No chance there's a reason behind that, is there?"_

And then there was all the 'what if's' and all of the consequences that would pay the price for my need to know. If it is, what then?; _"Okay... Cool. That's good to know"_? Or do I try to get involved? Do I offer to pay child support or something? I had no idea. Before now, I'd never thought about the prospect or idea of this happening before in the past; I'd had no reason to.

Anyway, after too many mental panic attacks, I decided to go to Bella's work and confront her. I knew where she lived too, but I figured that her boyfriend might be there, which would make for a _beyond_ awkward situation.

Driving into the City CBD, I passed the cafe where we had gone to for lunch together around a month ago, when we'd seen each other for the first time since our break up. I'd already thought over the bits and pieces of that day and our conversations that I could remember, but all of that just continued to cloud my head up even more.

After parking my car in a nearby underground car-park, I walked towards the tall building that was slowly getting marginally larger and larger as I neared it. I knew the building and what would lay inside, but I double checked, briefly reading the large sign placed proudly high up on the exterior wall of about the sixth floor up, that printed: 'L.O.T.L Design Corporations'. I continued to walk steadily towards and through the automatic double doors, through to the large reception room on the bottom storey that smelt like a combination of air-conditioning and leather. Looking down at my casual shorts, tank top and thongs, I started to question my judgment with choosing my outfit as I walked up to closest of four young receptionist girls that were sitting in a horizontal row of desks, wearing similar, if not identical, neat, crisp and creaseless suits.

"Good morning. Which floor does Bella Hartley work on?" I asked politely, trying to make up for my shabby-compared-to-the-current-environment-I-was-in-clothing.

The receptionist's auburn hair, flicked around as she looked to the computer screen having swiftly transitioned from looking at me, to typing away on a few keys, before her gaze returned to me. "Level nine. Ask at the desk that's directly in front of you when you come out of the elevator. They'll lead you to her office."

I nodded, before thanking her, keeping up my overly-polite act, before walking off towards the elevator which I took up to level nine, making good use of the instructions I'd been given.

I waited as the elevator slowly rose upwards, stopping three times as numerous more bodies flooded into the cramp room, joining me. Before long at all, the '9' light glowed and the elevator came to a halt again. Stepping out after the doors opened, the main desk wasn't hard to find, being mere metres directly in front of the elevator's opening.

Just before the desks, in the transition from the tiles near the elevator, was carpet, before a timber path lay in a strip, leading to a hall or corridor of countless doors, but I ignored them, continuing to walk straight up to the desk, similar to that which was on the ground floor, just a smaller variation with a mix of males & females manning each desk and browsing on the sleek computers.

"Can I help you?" a voice asked from a desk that was a few steps away from where I was standing currently. Walking towards it, I escaped my daydreaming-daze as I looked around the office, taking in my unfamiliar surroundings.

"Yeah. I was wondering where Bella Hartley's office is?" I enquired, but not quite as politely as I had downstairs minutes earlier.

"Her office is towards the end of the hall down to your right. Names are on the door" the receptionist responded, pointing, as I thanked her.

Walking down the hallway that I'd been looking at just before I walked over to the desks, I passed a dozen evenly separated doors before I stopped at the door with two names engraved on a strip of metal that was stuck on the door, identical to all of the other doors I'd passed, with the only difference being the names, which is what caught my attention.

Taking a deep breath before I knocked on the timber, I didn't have to wait long before a female's voice called out: "Come in."

I walked into the room filled with three desks –two holding computers, folders and a few personal items, with the other much-larger, circular shaped desk covered with countless spreads of papers, sketches, pens and several other folders- along with two additional chairs that were against the back wall.

The blonde girl who had invited me inside, and previously the only occupant of the room was sitting sideways on a chair at one of the desks with her back rested against the wall as she threw a small pink ball, the size of a tennis ball, up and down in the air, continuing to catch it before throwing it back up repeatedly. The girl, I automatically noted, _wasn't _Bella.

"Hi..." I started to say shyly, being a bit set back, having stupidly not expected or considered that anyone other than Bella would be in the room.

"Oh hey there" the girl smiled, stopping the ball-throwing, which she just placed beside her on the desk, before she sat up straighter from her previous slouched position against the wall. "Who are you?"

"Will Benjamin. Is Bella around?" I asked, standing by the door awkwardly, still trying to overcome my surprise that the situation wasn't what I'd expected and imagined it would be like.

The girl slouched back against the wall again. "Oh! Are you _Will, _as in the ex-Will? Bella will be back in a minute. She's just gone to get something from printing."

"Uh, yeah, okay" I murmured, trying to incorporate my answer all into one sentence, in an attempt to lower the awkwardness level.

She nodded, sat up again (heck that girl liked to move around!) before opening and extracting a small, thin piece of cardboard out of her desk drawer. Walking over to me she put her hand out as she introduced herself. "I'm Amy Reed. I work with Bella... obviously."

Shaking her hand politely, she stretched her other hand out towards me, which was holding the small card that I now realized was a business card. "Here. Take my card. They were only just printed out, like, yesterday and it's my very first official business card so I'm very excited about it... take it."

I laughed lightly, removing the card from her loose chopstick-like grasp between her index finger and middle finger. Her babbled out speech about the business card reminded me very much of Bella, which just brought that _'birds of a feather'_ saying to my mind as I glanced over the card before I pulled my wallet out of my shorts, slipped it inside and put it away again.

"You can sit down while you wait for her if you want" she added, pointing to the closest chair to me that was pushed in around the big circular table. I took the few steps to the table and sat down, followed by Amy who sat down on the chair next to me.

We sat in silence, neither of us knowing what to talk to the other about, so far with our only common ground being Bella.

Deciding to make use of the silence, I looked around the room, taking everything in and looking for familiarity. I saw Bella's bag next to one of the desks, her keys and phone sitting in the corner of it, placed just in front of a photo frame holding a photo of her, her boyfriend Daniel that I'd met the other day, as well as that same little girl that I was here to enquire about... if I managed to either get her alone without Amy or away from her.

"Cute baby" I commented, pointing over to the framed photo that had caught my attention.

She looked behind her at Bella's desk in the direction I'd been pointing before she smiled at the photo. "Allie? Yeah, she's so adorable."

There was another silence after that, before the sound of a door clicking open and slowly shutting again, along with the sound of high heels entering the room triggered both me and Amy to look behind us.

This time, it was the girl that I had been expecting all along.

Bella rushed inside, straight over to her desk, dumping an armful of A4 sized papers onto her desk, before sitting down and typing away furiously for a minute until she returned to going through the papers that she'd brought into the room with her.

"Bella? You have a visitor," Amy informed her, who by the looks of her, hadn't even realized that I was in the room, considering her usually more distant, awkward manner when we were confined in the same space.

She looked up from what she was doing –now scribbling something down onto the top page of the paper stack- before pausing from her motions that had been set on double-speed since she'd entered the room.

"Um... Will? What are you doing here?" she asked looking really puzzled and possibly a little embarrassed as her cheeks began to colour.

I knew she was probably expecting a simple answer as to why I was there, such as _'I have to pick something up'_ or _'I was in the area'_ or something to that degree of simple, and nothing like the question I was dying for an answer to.

"Uh... Can we talk alone for a minute?" I asked, looking from Bella to Amy, and back to Bella. I felt a little rude walking in and practically expecting Amy to be kicked out of the room, but I knew there was no chance in hell that I was going to ask Bella with Amy, or anyone else for that matter, lingering around and listening in.

Bella frowned, looking down at the papers again, scribbling something else. "Why? What's up? Can it wait? I've got this massive amount of work due to be on my boss's desk and in the client's hands in like an hour. I really don't have time for a catch-up or D&M."

I sighed, not sure where to go from there. My heart was screaming: 'NO NO NO' that it couldn't wait, while my head was yelling back at it: 'YES YES YES' knowing that considering Bella was stressed and pushing for a deadline, it really wasn't the best time to ask her.

In the silence, Amy added from the seat next to me "Bella's not that social when she's up against a one hour deadline. Can I help you out with anything? I've finished my part of the job."

"No, that's okay, I can wait... But if you've finished, why are you still here?"

Amy leaned a little closer to me and lowered her voice as if we were playing a game of Chinese Whispers. "I'm 'moral support' for her. And, don't tell anyone, especially not my boss, that I told you, but if I'm here, whether I'm working or not, I still get paid the big bucks."

I nodded, reassuring her I wouldn't say anything to her boss, before I looked over at Bella again who had taken our brief conversation as a chance to keep on working. After a few minutes of Amy & I sitting in silence, and Bella working obliviously, I softly spoke up. "Bella? When's a good time to talk then if now doesn't suit you?"

Amy got up from her next to me, walking back over to her desk, sitting just like she was when I'd entered the room as she continued throwing and catching the ball up in the air, leaning back against the wall.

She looked up at me for a moment, before looking down and continuing what she was doing, but answering me. "I don't know. What's it about? Can't you just make it quick and get it over with now?"

I shook my head, despite the fact that she wasn't looking. "No. It's not that simple."

She sighed, walking over and grabbing something off her desk. "I'm going to Rikki's tonight, just ask me then or something."

"Oh... so _you're_ coming over this afternoon?" I confirmed in realization.

A couple of days ago, Rikki had given Zane and I 'advanced notice' that we were going to be kicked out tonight because she was inviting friends over for a girl's night, hence we were banished. Fortunately for us the _Gold Coast Suns _were playing against _Port Power_ in a home game today at Carrara Stadium, so we were happy to be going out and cheering our teams on (Zane gets stubbornly patriotic and nationalistic about it, only supporting his 'home team', whereas I had an inclination to root for some of the underdogs... with the South Australian team falling pretty low on the leaderboard currently, despite leading over the Suns) and Rikki was happy to have the house without us for a while. It was a win-win situation. However, if I'd known that Bella was coming over... Well lets just say that I'm least going to be running late with getting out of the house when Rikki expected us to. Despite the fact that we'd decided to car-pool and go together, I figured that if I was running really late, Zane might leave without me and I could meet up with and then talk to Bella alone right when she arrived and before Rikki knew she was there.

She nodded, continuing to work as she spoke. "Yeah, Cleo was meant to be too, but she had already made plans with Lewis."

"Okay, cool" I said, with a smile starting to form on my lips.

Taking a sheet of paper over to the laminator, I watched Bella as she fed the sheet into the machine, looking up at me momentarily before she put a hand on her hip as she turned and focused on the machine again. "I'm sorry and I don't mean to be rude, but can you please leave Will? I need to focus on this and the chit-chat's distracting me at the moment."

Getting up from my seat, pushing it back into the table, I accepted her request. "Okay. I might catch you tonight before I leave then. Bye Bella" I replied, walking towards the door, hearing a "Bye" from Amy, as I turned back around saying finally before I left: "Bye. It was nice meeting you."

Leaving the huge office building, I walked out smiling as I made my way back to my car, planning on going straight home.

Even though I hadn't talked to Bella about what I'd come to ask her about, I still felt better about having at least met up with her. It just left me in a good mood for some reason.

#

When I got home, both Rikki & Zane were out and I was left home alone. Zane and I weren't supposed to be going out for hours yet so there wasn't even really much point in me getting ready to go. Considering my options, I thought that playing on the PlayStation might get a bit boring on my own and the only daytime TV on at the moment would've been either soap shows or talk-shows and neither captured my interest. Instead, I made my way to the kitchen, where I poured myself out a glass of Solo (out of Zane's bottle, but don't tell him that!) before I grabbed my phone and started browsing randomly through it, downloading apps, deleting apps, checking my messages, deleting messages, logging into this, logging out of that, and so on and so forth. Making my way to Facebook, I noticed a friend request from Amy, the Amy I'd met today -which I accepted considering I had been a bit rude and uninterested in her today being focused on Bella- as well a notification that Sophie had commented on a status of mine or something that I didn't bother to check.

Finally, after an hour or so, Zane got home and we talked, me informing him of the no interesting outcome about the fact I'd gone to talk to Bella today, while Zane whined about some girl that had been on his back with her constant texts and calls for the last few days. Very shortly after that, we left our days behind and got down to business, starting up the PlayStation, for a couple of challenges against each other before we had to start getting ready for the footy game.

I won the first game, which Zane just declared as a warm up due to his loss, before he won the next two games after that. We were nearly finished our fourth race when Rikki got home, walked in and dumped several bags on the dining table. Zane said hi to her as he raced, deciding to 'take a break' when that race was over.

We both walked over to the kitchen where Rikki was alternating between changing & going through camera lenses and taking some of the stuff she'd bought out of bags.

"So what's your plans for tonight?" I asked, despite knowing half of the answer, just hoping for more information as I snooped through her chocolate and chips filled bags, with just a few other things squeezed in as a minority of other purchases.

Slipping a camera back into the bag, she shrugged. "I've just got a friend coming over. Might watch a movie or talk something, I don't know. See how it goes I guess."

Zane's looked up as his interest was pricked. "A friend? Guy or a girl, Rikki?"

I hadn't told him that I knew who it was.

"Mind your own business!" she lectured with annoyance, grabbing all of her bags and walking upstairs.

After Rikki had left the room, I decided to follow upstairs separately to get ready and changed to go out later that day.

#

A while later I came back downstairs, ready and set to go but realized that Zane would still be a while longer which suited me and my plans to be late perfectly as he passed me on the stairs, going up as I came down, probably to do everything that I'd just done to get ready.

Walking into the living area, Rikki was downstairs too, carefully chopping a carrot for what looked like a dip-platter, appearing intently focused on it (probably to avoid another 'big knife' incident like how she'd injured herself the last time she was chopping). Walking straight past her, I headed over to the couch flopping down and trying to get comfy, considering whether I'd have enough time to have a quick nap or something before Zane would be ready to go.

Laying there, eyes shut, I heard the loud chops of Rikki's knife hitting the chopping board every few seconds as well as the occasional thuds or noises from Zane walking around and doing whatever he was doing upstairs. It wasn't the most relaxing environment and I couldn't feel myself drifting off to sleep anytime soon but I figured that a few minutes shut-eye wasn't too bad.

Moving around on the lounge, another noise was added to the atmosphere. That of slamming doors and yelling. I assumed it was another usual fight from the family diagonal from our house. They were definitely consistent with their blowouts, ranging from yelling bouts and arguments over who let the dog out of the house as they'd chase the Retriever around their front yard, to more even intense dramas like when a couple of months ago, the wife discovered that the husband had been having an affair, which I'm sure was broadcasted loud enough for the whole street to tune in and listen to. Then there was the parties and the aftermaths of the parties that their teenage kids threw... Gosh, they could be considered as the neighbours from hell, maybe?

Anyway, the current fight wasn't quite loud enough to hear what was going on and to find out who had done what this time, and even though it didn't sound 100% percent like them, I didn't really bother thinking much of it. The voices yelling at each other were a lot less screechy and annoying than normal and were perhaps a bit easier to listen to... Was there even such a thing as that?

Letting out a sigh of exertion from getting up, I looked over to see what Rikki was doing; arranging crackers on the plate before I walked over to the stairs to yell out and ask Zane how much longer he'd be.

At a quick glance, looking out through the window that was across from the stairs that had a view of the front yard and across the road, I noticed a car parked along the curb where it was normally vacant and saw two blondes, possibly a couple, arguing.

"ZANE! How much longer?" I yelled from the bottom the stairs, not exactly wanting to rush out incase I had an opportunity to catch up with Bella before we left, but just wanting an estimated departure time.

"I DUNNO! JUST GIMME A MINUTE" Zane yelled back a couple of seconds later as I turned and started walking back to the lounge, but after another glance out of the window, my attention was caught. The two that had been arguing stopped yelling momentarily and I saw the guy swing his arm in the direction of the girl who threw her arms up in front of her face vertically, managing to block his horizontal hit.

I watched for a minute longer, slightly mesmerized from the shock of the guy's outburst, while trying to work out or recall his familiarity. I couldn't see him properly, considering he was quite a distance away from me, but something about him looked familiar. The car and the girl were no help to jot my memory, having never seen or known anyone with that model car before and all I could see of the girl was blonde hair up in a ponytail, and that she was wearing a white dress.

After the attempted hit, I was tempted to just yell out at the guy from the front door to back off and leave her alone, I hated abusive guys with a passion, but a slither of recognition bet me to it, completely changing my frame of mind in the process. That was the guy who had rocked up at our place a couple of weeks ago… Bella's boyfriend, Daniel or Damien or something like that, which meant…

I think I yelled something out to the others to get their attention and help quickly, before I ran to the front yard, immediately standing in-between Bella and her boyfriend, facing him.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, mate?" I asked loudly, questioning him seriously, figuring that he better have a damn good reason to avoid being decked.

Instead of answering to me, he took a step forward, pushing my shoulder and arm with force on an angle so that I was pushed to the side from where I'd been standing in between the middle of the two.

"Look what you've done _now_, Bella!" he shouted accusingly, waving his hands spastically in her direction.

"What are you talking about? It's not her fault!" I yelled in defense, before Bella could get a word in, even though she didn't look like she was planning on answering back any time soon as her head lowered, looking at the ground.

"It's none of your business, get out of my way!" he screamed, grabbing my shirt and shoving me to the ground in the opposite direction, just as I watched Rikki come running out from the house. "Are you okay?" she checked, looking down at me before I got up.

As I nodded definitively, she moved to her next question. "What's going on out here? Why did you shove him over Daniel?" she questioned, looking over from me, to Daniel, to Bella.

Immediately pointing an angry finger at me, Daniel yelled blaming me with a very childish, not to mention false accusation. "IT WAS HIM! He started it!"

Rikki looked over to me. "What happened, Will?" she asked, wanting my story about the fight.

"He tried to hit her" I said, staring over at Dan with daggers as he moved back next to Bella again, taking a grasp of the top of her arm.

"Bella? Seriously?" Rikki clarified, as her nostrils began to flare up, making it evident that Rikki was getting angry and was growing angrier.

I stood there looking at everyone who was looking from each other also. Daniel was clinging onto Bella, looking visibly angry also, Bella was stroking and wriggling her hand over and under his to try and release his grip on her, and Rikki resembled a firework awaiting its almighty explosion, but then, catching my eye from just behind Rikki, I noticed the car was parked a couple of metres away from Rikki. Sitting in a car seat in the back of the open-windowed car was Bella's previously mythical and phantom little girl, with its head tilting to the left a little, fast asleep as it sucked on its dummy subconsciously in a rhythm.

I stared over at it in the car momentarily before firework-Rikki exploded, distracting me away from it.

"YOU DID IT! DIDN'T YOU? YOU GUTLESS BASTARD!" she screamed as she barreled straight over to Daniel & Bella until she was standing directly in front of him, which I noticed only prompted his eyes to widen and his hands to clench up into fists.

That's when everything made sense… the penny dropped.

Bella's boyfriend must of been the person who had bashed her up that time when she came to Rikki for help. That must of been why she had belittled the idea of going to the police about her attack, claiming that she'd 'never be able to give them a helpful enough description or sufficient information' and that it was just 'pointless'. I had just brushed the fact off that any time when she'd been questioned about what had happened or where it had happened or whatever, she'd always change the subject of the topic, or slowly fade out of discussing it. I just figured that it was still a matter of fresh wounds.

"Just leave, Rikki!"

"Or what?" she taunted. "Will you beat me up too? If you go near her, touch her or hurt her again, I'll make sure that you regret it."

Lunging closer to her, his broad shoulders were square and his extra height made him stand tall over Rikki's smaller frame, but without touching her, he stared angrily at her, his pupils dilated wide. "Don't tell me what to do. You have no say in our relationship. She needed to learn her lesson the hard way."

_Learn her lesson the hard way? _The guy made me feel sick. I don't what had gone on between them, but he had very little right to discipline her, let alone to _ever_ physically punish or hurt her in the name of 'discipline'. Why didn't she tell us? Had he threatened her about if she did say anything to anyone? We could've protected her from this monster that she was forcedly dating.

Being wrapped up in my thoughts, I missed part of the argument that Rikki and Daniel were currently engaged in at the present time, but I immediately noticed he was pointing over to Bella, who had since started to cower away after having taken a few steps backwards, yelling at her and then back at Rikki. I heard Rikki spit out the threat of frying his brains out painfully, but I wasn't focused on them. I was watching Bella as she slowly lowered herself down, sitting on the few-inch-tall concrete curb bordering the separation between the road and the grass of the front yard of our house.

Taking another look at the two blondes fighting, I too decided to back away and move closer to Bella, moving even slower than she had towards the gutter until after a while I was seated next to her on the thin concrete strip.

I'm not even sure whether she registered that I was next to her as her blood-shot eyes appeared to have tunnel-vision, looking straight on at the others fighting, totally unaware and not even flinching as I sat down next to her slightly shaking body.

The others kept fighting, oblivious to us also and I considered talking to Bella, really wanting to know more about why she had kept her shocking turmoil a secret, and more importantly, if there was anything I could do to help her.

Eventually I worked up the courage to question her, softly asking her in a whisper, "Why didn't you tell anyone, Bella? We would've helped you."

She ignored me, continuing to look ahead motionlessly, like she was in shock, so I decided to direct another question at her, which was partially in the form of a statement at the same time. "He hurt you that night you came over, didn't he?"

Again, no response.

"I'll call the cops. They can charge him, hopefully even lock him up for this" I stated, leaning backwards slightly as I weaved my hand into the front pocket of my jeans to pull my phone out.

"No" she whispered, before pushing my arm away from where it was digging into my jeans.

I frowned, looking over at her as she went on to explain herself a little more. "It'll just make things worse, you know? If police were involved…"

"No, you're wrong; I _don't_ know what you mean. What he's doing... its assault – domestic violence, Bella. You can't just stand back and let him do this to you. It's disgusting. He can't get away with it."

"It's my problem, I'll deal with it. I'll make it better. I don't want you, or anyone else becoming a part of this too."

I nodded at her, knowing that if I didn't agree and if I continued to push, then she'd be sad and angry at me also. I just had to find another less front on and direct approach to help her.

"Okay, but just know that if you ever need a place to stay, we've still got that spare room."

Looking at me strangely, my gut twisted inside a little as I realized what that meant. "I won't need it."

"Are you insane? You have to get away from him! Open your eyes, Bella. He doesn't care about you and I don't know what excuses you're making for him, but he won't change."

She shook her head and bit her lip as her red eyes slowly welled up and she began shaking a bit more noticeably. "You don't know that he won't... I just... I can't leave him, Will."

"You _can't_ or you _won't_? There's a difference…"

"I'm not going to tell you again – stay out of this. I'll sort it out over time."

"Please let us help you! You don't understand the mistake that you're making. You shouldn't live for what your going to do or what you're going to change in 'the day after' or 'next week' or whatever. You don't know what's around the corner, Bella. It could be all over for any of us tomorrow – we just don't know and you don't want to have to live with the regret of 'what if'."

I'm not sure whether my question even computed because as I continued watching her, the only movements that followed after a time was that her eyes and lips scrunched up taut as she lowered and pressed her face into her open palms on her lap, but all without responding to my question.

It hurt me seeing her like that and as I heard the muffled sniffles and chocked up breathe through the noise barrier of her hands, I had to fight the urge and instinct to once again comfort her physically, unless I wanted my head bashed in by her boyfriend who was in the same vicinity that we were. Instead, not really knowing what else to do or how else to be a help for her, I just awkwardly looked up to the others who were still verbally fighting each other aggressively, as Zane came out from the house and joined them wanting to know what on earth was going on.

"What's all this about guys?" he questioned as I noticed him looking between the two for any other hints about the reason behind the yelling.

With crossed arms and an angry expression she turned to Zane. "He's been hitting Bella. That's what happened to her the other week, except _he's_ too gutless to admit it."

Zane looked over to him angrily. "Are you serious?"

Rikki nodded and out of nowhere, Zane punched Daniel with such a strong force that the impact made him instantly fall to the ground.

I continued watching in shock with no idea why Zane had lost it so quickly at him and as he got up with an angry groan, he stared Zane down, despite his injuries from the punch – a bloody nose and a reddening eye.

"You" he stated, pointing to Zane with a threatening finger as he staggered on the spot, losing balance momentarily. "_You _won't get away with _this._"

Standing a little taller, Zane edged closer to him confidently. "Oh won't I? Besides, if I don't get away with _that_, then at least I know that you're more screwed if I am too."

"Oh really? I didn't touch you. And if you're talking about Bella, what evidence have you got? What evidence have _any _of you got against me? There's no scars or cuts, but this" he said, pointing to the side of his face where the skin around his eye was red and the blood was still slowly trickling from his nose. "With this, I can charge _you _with assault. It was an unwarranted attack. I can say that you all ganged up on me. There's no way they'd believe I hurt Bella if I'm the victim here."

I almost laughed in disgust from the sickening irony of the matter. _He_ was the one who had hurt Bella and now there was the risk that he could not only get away with it, but also be declared the_ victim_. I was so tempted to ignore Bella's request not to and just call the cops, but then I remembered the enormous implications that would result from the normally basic charges if Daniel revealed that Zane was involved, which was already an action that he was threatening to pursue.

My thoughts were interrupted by Zane's agreement. "Fine! Go ahead, I don't give a damn because I know that the real crim will be caught at some point."

I jumped up, pulling Zane's shoulder so that we each moved a few steps away from Daniel. "You idiot! Don't aggravate him to go to the police" I growled quietly. "Do you remember what month it is? It hasn't been the full eighteen months yet!"

Zane's face scrunched up and let out his frustration through a kick at nothing but air. "Damn! I forgot. We can't just let him get away with this though! He deserves to be locked up."

"You don't think that I don't know that already? We just need to find another way around it without getting you in there with him."

Zane nodded and we both turned around to face the other three again where there was another argument in the process. Daniel was trying an attempted drag to pull Bella over to the passenger's side of the car, while Rikki had an arm on Bella's shoulder and a hand clutched onto her wrist, trying to edge her the other way. Bella looked emotionless and exhausted, her body obviously moving in whichever of the directions she was being pulled with a stronger force and saying something that I couldn't hear over top of Daniel and Rikki's loud arguing.

"Let her go and we won't call the police" Rikki offered with a tug on Bella's arm.

"As if" he spat, glaring at Rikki. "That's no threat to me. Innocent until proven guilty, right? She's coming with me."

"Stop fighting. Just stop it" I only just managed to hear Bella say quietly.

Releasing her hand's grip of Bella's shoulder, Rikki pulled her phone out from her pocket. "Fine then, but the police are worth a shot. I'm sure we'll have _something_ against you. "

I butted into the trio's argument, with the view of making sure that the police and Zane wouldn't be involved in anything together, but trying to think of some way that could help Bella with getting away from the monster at the same time. "Let her go! Just let her choose who she wants to be with."

I was confident that this opportunity would work as a perfect getaway that her boyfriend couldn't dispute. If she didn't want to go with him, he shouldn't force her to and just suck it up and accept it.

"Fine" he smirked, letting go of her arm, holding his hands up in the air next to his face making it look as though I was aiming a gun at him. "Go on. Let her choose then."

After he'd let go of her completely, Rikki patted Bella's shoulder in reassurance before letting go of her too.

"It's your choice, Bella. It's up to you…" I said as we locked eyes for the first time that day.

Rubbing his foot into the ground that he was looking at, I heard the open-ended threat "You know what will happen…" that Daniel murmured to her, despite the fact that he looked as if he didn't want anyone else to hear him speak.

Watching her with hope, none of us, not I, not Zane, not Rikki, nor Bella or Daniel moved an inch, standing in complete silent for close to a minute, before Bella edged closer to the car as with a small, helpless shrug in our direction, while Daniel had already moved over to the other car door at her first movement towards the car.

Rikki rushed over to her again fiercely, while Bella just whispered something to her, gesturing her arms in a manner to calm her.

Turning back around and making her way to the car, there was nothing else that Rikki, or any of us could do to help Bella when she made the decision, as well as the move to get into the car.

Letting out a sigh as I watched the car drove off, Rikki angrily stormed over to Zane and I. "What the hell do you think you were doing, Will? You pretty much just helped him get her!"

"I'm sorry… My idea didn't go according to plan. I was hoping to try and- " I started to explain before Rikki cut me off.

"You shouldn't of been trying to do anything! I had it under control! I was going to win! I remembered that I had a group photo on my phone with me, Cleo and Bella when she was staying with us just after he did that to her and you could see her injuries. We had evidence that she's been being abused and I could've persuaded him to leave her here."

I shook my head. "It's not that simple. You don't understand, Rikki. I'm sure that he still would've told the cops about Zane punching him. He would do done anything he can to paint himself as the victim. That would mean really, really bad news for Zane."

"Well if the cops are such a big problem for you Zane, for whatever reason, then why did you punch Dan in the first place? Trust me, I wanted to just as much, but you don't even know the guy."

There were a few moments of silence as Zane took an audible breath and even I was interested in why Zane had punched him. It's not like he was best friends with Bella, or ever had been and it wasn't as if Daniel had broken his trust like he had broken Rikki's. Sure Zane had a temper but he wasn't purposely aggravating Zane either.

"Yeah, Zane… Why did you punch him in the first place?"

Scratching his face awkwardly and looking down to the ground cowardly, Zane let out a few unusually unconfident 'Um's' and 'Uh's'. "Well it doesn't really have anything to do with Bella and Daniel personally, but it's more so just the principle of the matter."

"What do you mean?" I asked, continuing to question him further for a better insight into his reasoning.

"It's about the whole abuse thing. I made a promise to myself when I was younger."

This time, it was Rikki's turn to ask for more information. "Why? What sort of a promise?"

"My dad used to hit my mum before she left us. I was way too young to be able to do anything to help her then, but all I remember is feeling so scared at how loud my dad would yell and I got really frightened seeing my mum crying, I mean you think of your parents as being so much stronger than you are, but she always looked so weak and helpless and I couldn't do anything, so I promised myself that if there was ever something that I could do to help a woman, or anyone really, that was in the same situation, I would do it."

I was surprised. Zane had never mentioned anything about that before, not that it was the sort of thing you just blurt out, but let's face it, Zane isn't exactly the most self-sacrificing guy so hearing that coming from him was quite surprising, but in a good way.

I looked to Zane who was alternating between staring off into the distance and looking at the ground, just doing anything to avoid eye-contact with me and Rikki. Then I glanced at Rikki who was smiling ever so slightly at Zane, who still wasn't looking at either of us.

"That's a really nice thing Zane, but I still don't understand why the cops are such a big problem for you" Rikki questioned with confusion, but with her small smile still marginally evident.

"They're just a no-go zone for him, Rikki. At least for a couple of months" I reasoned.

Looking at each of us with confusion, Rikki continued. "What? Why? What has he done?"

I looked at Zane who shook his head at me so fast that I think if he'd shaken any harder, his head would've fallen off. "Don't worry about it. You've just got to trust us on this and understand that Zane can't get in _any _trouble with the police."

"But why? Tell me or I'll call the police for finding my money, phone and laptop conveniently in Zane's room…" Rikki threatened seriously.

"You're not kidding, are you?" I questioned cynically, looking at her intently for any sign of it being a half-hearted joke.

She shook her head definitively and Zane added to clarifying an answer to my question . "She's not joking, Will. I can tell."

I looked over at them both once again to ensure that I wasn't being played, for an unobvious reason. "Just tell her Zane. She would find out sooner or later and you don't need any more trouble with the police."

"Whatever…" he sighed before walking away, prompting Rikki to almost instantly start jumping down my throat with questions.

"What's going on Will? Why does Zane have to avoid the police?"

I took a deep breath, realizing that he hadn't exactly told me not to say anything to her and it was a lot better telling her now and letting her have a spaz out now about why we couldn't involve the police and try to get their help with Bella because of Zane's fault.

"He's been on a good behaviour bond for the last year or so. If he breaks it at all and has a run in with the police, then he goes straight back to jail."

She crossed her arms and her eyebrows furrowed in seriousness. "Why does he have a bond? What did he do? Don't tell me that I've been living with a drug-dealer or a serial-killer or something."

Laughing her overreaction off lightly I shook my head at her. "No. I don't think he could get out for _any _reason and there isn't anything that his dad could've tried and bargained with if he'd done that. It was a condition of bail."

"What _did _he do then? Steal a little old lady's bag? Litter in public?" she asked with an increasing frustration as I took my time to answer her.

"He was arrested for being caught grafitting a school out in the suburbs, between Nerang and Worongary with a group of mates, but it was only him and another guy that the police managed to catch."

"Who else was it? Were you there?"

I shook my head. "No. I was still too busy pitying myself in 'Heartbreak Central' back then. I think Nate and a couple of those other guys were the ones with him, not sure who the other guy who got caught is though."

"What? Why would they just leave him to cop the blame? Some mates…" Rikki said to me, looking annoyed.

I shrugged at her. "I guess they didn't want to end up in trouble either. They put themselves first. You can sort of understand it, but at least Zane hasn't spoken to any of them since."

It's strange how one event can have both such strong negative and positive impacts; I mean, it was bad because of the legal repercussions and the loss of so many 'friends' for Zane, but in a way, I guess that I was secretly glad that it had happened. I doubt that we would've become friends if we both hadn't been such lost souls having a rough trot at the same time. Me? I'd lost the girl that I loved due to a couple of stupid mistakes on both of our behalf that we didn't allow ourselves to move on from, while Zane hadn't been in a serious relationship that lasted more than three weeks since Rikki. Mates-wise, I was a bit of a loner. Spending half of your life underwater and still being a bit of a newbie to the Gold Coast didn't assist with forming friendships, while Zane had made the decision to disconnect himself from all of his mates that he realized were all the same and Nate and the others. Just in it for a good time, not loyal and not the sort of association that he wanted to surround himself with.

That's how we connected and when we bumped into each other for the first in ages, we could for the first time ever relate to each other, I mean, without him and Rikki being together we didn't have a reason to even talk anymore before that… We were two lonely, betrayed guys and needed a friend and each other as much as the other did.

"Why was the idiot grafitting in the first place? If he hadn't then none of this would be happening and we could be helping Bella get away from that prick!" she said loudly looking extremely annoyed before storming off inside, calling out Zane's name.

As she left me, I pulled my phone out of my pocket and made a call. I made arrangements to meet up with them purely with the hope and prospect of helping Bella. However, I knew that it was a weak and possibly futile idea, but it was all I had and was better than nothing…

After ending the call, I walked back inside to see Zane sitting on the couch, not exactly looking happy.

"What's up, mate? What did Rikki want?" I asked, taking a seat next to him.

"To bite my head off."

I nodded solemnly. I thought that this would've been the case, especially considering Zane's current demeanor of self-pity, but I still asked anyway.

"Am I right in saying that by trying to make things better, I think we made things even worse?" he questioned.

"Spot on. Life sucks…"

* * *

><p><strong>So... A lot going on there, hey? What did you guys think? Tell me everything! What do you all think about Amy &amp; the monster called Dan? What did you think of Zane's criminal past, secret and promise to himself? Who did Will call? And will Bella <em>ever<em> get away from her boyfriend? Then there's still the open-ended mysteries of Allie; and with Rikki eliminated, is Cleo or Bella the possibly pregnant mermaid? ****Also, for the super cluey ones out there, did any of you pick up on a bit of sneaky foreshadowing about one other upcoming *hint hint* fatal, tragic accident.**

**Next up? Lewis. **

**Have a good one :) **


	13. Lines Of Communication

**The last update for this was in April? That's ridiculous. I deeply apologize from the bottom of my heart to anyone who's still reading this and has had to wait that long. School has been crazy busy this year (my hard work has paid off though!), but I'm on holiday's at the moment and my final year of school is next year! Regardless, I'm back and Far From Perfection is most certainly back for now. Thankfully for me (not so much for the reader's) before this extreme hiatus the plots of this story have been in the process of melding together and breaking apart and finally, beginning from the next chapter onwards things get EXPLOSIVE, like ridiculously so. I'm talking cliffhanger's in each chapter. Bring it baby! **

**Another little side story I'm working on is a little AU Home And Away Romeo/Sasha fic is anyone's interested in a good old forbidden love. Another awesome Home and Away fic is 'Little Wonder's' which is a cute Romeo/Indi fic written by my good friend (who somehow manages to update like 8x faster than I do!) and is beta-ed by me, myself and I. **

**Also, sorry but this chapter goes back and forth from present day to 2 weeks ago a lo but it was essential. Enjoy & don't forget to review ;) **

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><p><strong>Chapter 13 – Lines Of Communication<strong>

Cleo's POV

**~ Present Day ~**

"Bye" I said as a goodbye, before Lewis kissed my cheek briefly and gently as he left for work in the morning. "Have a good day."

He nodded timidly, backing out of the door and leaving our home. _Our_ home which was shared by the other three members that constituted my direct family. Admittedly, I had landed the better end of the bargain since Lewis and I's mutual, although forced, decision to move back to my family home.

Thankfully, the decision had proven to have a noticeably positive impact on our bank account and wasn't completely pointless. For the first time since we had returned home from our honeymoon just months earlier, finance was _not_ the problem that was weighing our lives down. In a way, I think that that had been easier. I admit that I personally am an emotional and emotively-wired person, Lewis is too, but over the two weeks since our marriage had been pushed into an uncomfortable grey area, neither of us had known what to do, or how to deal with it.

So we didn't.

I'm no mathematician or accountant, but sorting numbers and adjusting the figures of our budget had been so much easier than identifying and resolving the tension between us.

I could feel that things had not been completely normal for weeks now, since we'd moved back to my pre-marital home together, but that was easy to hide, pull a façade over and push to the back of your mind. The bubbling under the surface had been manageable until the phone call that had created the explosion and implosion of our problems all in one hit. The explosion of the fact and realization to both of us that things _really_ were wrong between us, but then created the domino effect of imploding our problems that we had undoubtedly pushed away, neither of us wanting to face the damage of the explosion and confront the issue.

Because both of us were the sort of people to face confliction head on like Rikki, heck, even Bella would, Lewis and I had used our upmost effort to work around the issue and ignore the crater that was straight-bang in the middle of our marriage.

In all honesty, even if we did attempt to deal with it, I'm not entirely sure how I would or could go about it. At this stage, I couldn't even identify myself! I hadn't even intentionally meant to hide it from him, but I was so caught up in my own panic and thought process. In hindsight, sure, I had gone about it in not the most ideal way, but it's those panicked situations like that where you have absolutely no control, and always manage to have your regrets with your dealings.

I couldn't shoulder all the blame, however, but I had no idea and no right to judge how Lewis was mentally dealing with our same issue before we sort things out together.

However, the in-between period of now and fixing the issue, I was left with my haunting regrets of how I would have gone about things differently and better…

**~2 Weeks Ago~**

_My initial intention as I flipped through the pages of my personal calendar diary was to turn straight to the pages that signified a few months time, so that I could jot down the dates of Dad, Sam and Kim's holiday. I'm sure I would hear about all too much before then, meaning there would have been no reason for me to forget the dates, but I was very much a diary-girl so that along with other things made its way to my pages. _

'_**HAND KEY INTO REALTOR!'**_

'Blah, blah, blah…'_ I mentally thought as I flicked through the pages with occasional entries catching my eye as the pages turned. _

'_**7 - Happy Hour Cocktails with R & B - Marchello's' **_

'3 months ago, old news…'

_Pink post it's, blue pen, red ink and yellow highlighting graced the pages until I neared closer to the final destination, but not before noticing the absence of the important yellow highlighting. I double checked, flipping over the previous pages, until I was met with 5 highlighted dates, the last dates which received that special treatment and indication, even up to now. _

_Panic stations. _

_I could've forgotten to record the start of my cycle with the chaos of moving and all, was my first consideration and wishful thought. _

_2 months though? That fact which was laid out on the pages front of me sunk in my gut, knowing all too well my personal diligence with my diary. That, along with my lack of recollection about that monthly dread for the same time period my diary indicated - way too long. _

_I picked up my phone with an unintentionally shaky hand searching through my contacts to the familiar trustful names. _

_Bella Hartley. _

_I touched the icon, followed by the connected number before waiting with a pounding heart that I attempted to calm by placing my spare hand on my chest. _

_30 long seconds and 15 dial tones later, I received her voice, but not the voice I had wanted. One of my closest friend's recorded voice; as opposed to her soothing and caring tailored words that I was longing to hear in reassurance and for help right now. _

_I hung up with no voice message, before continuing to scroll before reaching the R's, and more importantly, Rikki Chadwick. _

_Repeating similar actions as I had done with the first call, I only waited half as long before Rikki's voice answered. "Hey Cleo! What's up?"_

"_Rikki?" I pleaded into my phone, grasping it tighter in desperation that I thought may have in some way helped. "Can you do me a really, really big favour? I'm scared." _

_The chirpiness in her voice changed to concern and seriousness with her reply. "Of course, Cleo, anything. What's wrong? Where are you?" _

_I swallowed the dignity of my privacy, in a gulp before answering my friend. "Can you get me something?" _

"_Sure, I'll try to. What is it?"_

_I closed my eyes as the following words slipped out of my mouth and officially into the world for the first time. _

"_A pregnancy test…" _

"_Cleo" was all that Rikki could say next, before the pause that followed it until she composed herself by arranging details and stating the fact that she was currently out and could get it then, but needed to return home before she could come over with the daunting delivery for me. _

_Shortly after, our call ended and I was left to the silence of my own worries and fears…_

_By the time that I had heard the knocking downstairs an hour later, I had worked myself into such a state that Rikki needed to comfort and reassure me, providing me with a distraction about the fact that Zane and Will had caught sight of the test at home before she had been able to come here. _

_Brilliant. I had had difficulty confessing what I needed to Rikki alone, let alone those two knowing too. _

_She reassured me that she'd managed to put them off the scent of who it was for. _

_Next came the inevitable crunch time. Moment of truth, whatever you would like to call it. _

_Rikki and I split up and I made my way to a room down the hall with the hugely important fate-deciding box, before I rushed out of the room minutes later, amid a panic attack although the fate had not even been revealed at this point yet. _

"_Rikki" I screeched to my friend as I rushed over to her. "I can't do it! I can't look at it! Lewis! There is no way we have the money for a BABY!" _

_She rubbed my shoulder reassuringly with her palm as she calmly looked me squarely in the eye and assessed my fears. "Calm down Cleo. You can do it. There's a 50/50 chance, remember? Lewis wouldn't kill you or anything stupid, he's like the most fatherly person I know – ever since I met him, and there is endless way's to get around money problems. Shhh... You can do this Cleo."_

_I was still scared as hell, but nodded and didn't object as she took my hand in her own, guiding us to the bathroom together. _

_I stepped away from her and made my way to the plastic that held the direct fate of at least mine and my husband's next 18 years. _

_I squealed, throwing my arms around Rikki with my delighted announcement that meant children of our own were still prolonged, hopefully for another few years. _

"_Never, ever have I been so happy to see something so negative!" _

**~ Present Day ~**

It was my day off and I had arranged to meet both Bella and Rikki at Mako, really needing the swim and the company, but since the initial invitation, it turns out that there would only be two of us after Bella messaged earlier that she wasn't able to join us.

Surfacing, after having taken my time with swimming through the familiar water's, I was typically the first to arrive in the moon pool and spent the next 20 minutes playing with the water and sand, gliding my hands through it while I waited for my friend.

Finally she arrived and greeted me, before changing her position similarly to my own as we both rested against the sandy floor of the crater's edge that were in.

"Bella not coming?" Rikki asked, wording her question almost as though it was a statement, given the trend that we were both becoming familiar with regarding our friend.

I shook my head. "No, she messaged earlier to say she couldn't make it."

Rikki nodded in response before our setting and conversation adjusted to the fact that we were all that there would be. "So how's things been?"

"Good and bad" I sighed with a frown. "Okay Cleo, tell me more…"

"Well physically we're all good, fit and healthy, but ever since the scare it's been so awkward with Lewis. Neither of us have really talked about it since, but neither of us have forgotten either. It's just this uncomfortable medium of pretending that everything's all good when it's not, but neither of us wanting to do anything to make it actually all good" I vented quickly, letting out a deep breath at the end for the emphasis of my tough predicament.

"Oh Cleo, I'm sorry. If it hadn't been for the two insecure idiots opening their big mouth, then none of this might have happened."

I nodded letting out a sigh as I rubbed my temple with guilt. "But even if Will hadn't of called him, asking and he didn't find out that way, I still wasn't being completely honest with him."

"You were scared and unsure, Cleo. It's understandable that you dealt with it that way. It's not like you were going to hide it from him if you _were_ pregnant."

"Rikki… Please stop saying that… it's only justifying my actions and that's just going to make it harder when Lewis and I do face up to our problems."

She nodded calmly in response before letting out a breath. "In that case, I recommend that you do sort things out as soon as possible. If you're feeling this guilty and uncomfortable, chances are that he is too. What's the worst that can happen if you try to talk about it and things go badly?"

"He hates me, we a get divorce and he moves to Egypt to get away from me?!"

"Oh come on Cleo, that's ridiculous! On a scale of one to ten with the likelihood of that happening, the chance is about a minus five!"

"I don't know about that Rikki… Ever since that night, things haven't been the same with us…"

**~ 2 Weeks Ago, Later That Day ~ **

"_Honey, I'm home" Lewis yelled out from downstairs, seconds after the front door slammed shut, in one of his corniest voices possible. My husband could be quite the dag when he wanted to be. _

_I called out a greeting with the room of my whereabouts in response which resulted in him walking through the door of our bedroom seconds later. _

"_Hey" he smiled, walking over to my desk I was sitting at in the corner of our room, throwing his work bag on our bed and leaning down to kiss me. _

_After the kiss had ended, we each pulled apart. Lewis sat down on the edge of the desk with a light laugh to himself as I shut the laptop that I had been working on. "So, today was quite possibly the weirdest day I've had in a long time." _

"_You and me alike… Why do you say that?"_

"_This morning, it was just one of those days where I kept misplacing everything and then things would just jump out and trip me over, it was quite the trial and error of my coordination I must say. Then I've been getting this pins and needles tingling in my hands and feet -hands especially- ALL DAY which is beyond frustrating when you need a steady hand with dissections and controlling the microscopes! Oh and during my lunch break I got this bizarre call from Will checking if you were pregnant! I haven't heard from the guy in months and out of the blue he ring's me to ask that!" he laughed almost with disbelief. "Mind you, I wouldn't put it pass him to be dared by Zane or the two were having midday beer's or something."_

_I squirmed uncomfortably, to which Lewis had no idea of. The two of us sat in silence until he spoke again, tucking a fallen piece of hair out of my face and behind my ear. "Cleo? Are you alright? Something's up, isn't it?"_

"_Um… It was only a false alarm, so don't worry about it but earlier today I too was kind of uncertain of whether I was pregnant or not." _

_Lewis looked at me strangely with slight shock. "Oh… Okay. But how and why did Will know about that then? Why didn't you say anything to me about it earlier?" _

"_I didn't want to tell you until I knew for sure and there was no need to if it was negative, like it is. As for Will, I asked Rikki to get the test for me and the boy's obviously stumbled across it from destination A to destination B." _

_He nodded, getting up and moving over to the end of the bed as lent his arms on his knees. I rotated on the chair to face him, seeing his slightly disappointed expression._

"_Sure, it's negative, but I'm like the fourth or fifth person to know, Cleo… What if it wasn't?" he said with the sad eyes that had always killed me for as long as I could remember, reminding me of a disappointed puppy. "It would've been, oh yeah, suppose Lewis should be told too - eventually. Were you even going to mention anything today if I hadn't brought it up?" _

"_I'm sorry, Lewis" I apologized, moving over from my seat on the desk chair over next to my husband on the bed. "It's not like I planned for it to come out that way, but I was scared, so I called Rikki. The boy's happening to find out too was just a complete accident." _

"_If you were scared, you should've gone to me… Do you trust Rikki more than you trust me?" Lewis replied still looking hurt as I attempted to intertwine our hands together as a comfort for us both. _

"_No of course not, you're my husband – I love you" I attempted to reason as a reassurance. _

_He looked up at me with his still-sad eyes. "There's a difference between love and trust, Cleo" he replied coolly as he unlatched our hands and stood up from next to me on our bed. "I'm having a shower."_

That non-aggressive, yet tense argument had been the first watering of the seeds that were already planted. Later that night, a second and similar unresolved argument was sparked from the first argument… And things had been just as rocky, tense and unresolved since. Not that either of us wanted to admit it.

**~Present Day~**

After I had met up with Rikki at Mako Island in the afternoon, I had spent a large majority of the remainder of the day swimming and taking my time with making my way back home. That included marginally stubbornly ignoring several calls from Lewis that I wasn't really in the right frame of mind to take.

Anyway, without even realizing the time I only returned home late, taking my merry time after deciding to eat out believing that Lewis would be working late like he had initially thought that he was going to need to tonight.

However after getting home, greeting my dad who was watching TV in the lounge room and making my way upstairs, I got a shock as I walked into my shared bedroom upon immediately noticing the different and special setting that the room had been temporarily adjusted to.

Fresh flowers were placed in nearly every spot that had free space for them. Candles illuminated the room from our bedside tables, the desk and the wardrobe and 2 plates were beautifully set up serving a cooked dinner with an extra table in the room that must've been extremely difficult to take up from downstairs.

The one downside and catch was that one plate was empty and my husband was lying down in neat attire facing the other side of the bed with light snores coming from his direction.

"Lewis?" I whispered in the dark room.

There was a groan as he turned over, eyes only half open. "What, Cleo? I'm tired. I'll pack everything up in the morning."

He turned over once again, signifying the fact that he wanted to stop talking.

"You did a good job…" I sighed to myself, blowing a few of the candles in the corner out before sitting down to the seat and starting to eat the romantically-purposed, but now cold dinner which I wasn't even hungry for, but wanted to eat in attempt of some sort of gratitude while Lewis went back to sleep.

...

I really should have listened to that admonition that I had received many times before in the past about not allowing the sun to set with problems unresolved...

Who was to know what was around the corner? How were any of us expected to know?

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><p><strong>ARE YOU READY?! This is where things get serious... Life or death, life-changing, devastating. I think that the next few chapter's will be the climaxes of this story. <strong>

**But as for Clewis and the troubles in their paradise, what did you think? I really wanted to show the repercussions that financial problems can have on a marriage and the extensive strain that it can cause for a couple. But it's all about to escalate pretty quickly and very soon for them... Poor Clewis, they're a bit adorable but what's coming up is devastating. I think even I'M going to have a hard time writing it. **

**Next up: Bella discovers that Will made a douche-y decision in the worst possible time, changing everything. And whose life will be lost by the end of the chapter?**

**Review and the next installment will be all yours in no time at all...**


	14. Sweet Sorrow

**Chapter 14 – Sweet Sorrow**

_Bella's POV_

"Good morning!" Amy chirped from her desk where she was typing away madly with one hand and holding her takeaway coffee cup in the other.

"Morning" I smiled, walking over to desk opposite my friend's, pulling my chair out, dumping my handbag along with the paper's in my hand and turning my computer on within a few swift actions.

"Did you get your drafts done last night?" she asked, placing the red Cibo coffee cup down on her desk as she switched to using two hands to type furiously.

I nodded, although I'm almost certain that she didn't notice my slow movement in contrast to her tornado-speed typing. "Yeah, they're all done and dusted. I'll just double check over them, but we've got till 10am. Yours?"

"No… Why do you think I'm on super-sonic speed now? I had a hot but late date last night. I've been here since 6" she confessed with a brief exhaled-sigh, pausing to take a quick shot of coffee before continuing at the speed she had been.

"Need me to help with anything, procrastinator?" I asked, neatening the papers on my desk and moving them to a corner as I pulled up my emails seeking the next project we had to conquer for the company.

She shook her head at the same speed she had been typing at, worryingly appearing that it would fall off soon if she shook it much faster. "No, it's okay. It's all in my head - I just need to get it down as fast as humanly possible. Don't tell him this, but I think I spent a decent portion of the date last night mentally planning all this anyway."

"Ohhh, was the date a doozy, Ames?" I questioned scrolling through and arranging my emails.

"Nah, we got on great – we're meeting up again tonight, but he just wanted to know all the basic details and he had all the typical cliché questions. I've had to answer them all so many times before that my mouth was sort of on auto-pilot, while my brain was elsewhere."

I laughed at my friend's comment. "You and I are from two different worlds, aren't we?!"

"Well not everyone's as fortunate as you to be in a stable and committed relationship with Prince Charming, Bella" she said with an eye-roll and yet another caffeine shot from her cup before her face lit up a bit more. "But saying that, I'm pretty sure I'm onto something pretty good with this one. Maybe even Mr. Right material…"

Typical Amy. She went through her boys like nobody's business. But each and every man she went through involved either them hanging off her every word, or Amy herself falling hard. However, she hasn't seemed to co-ordinate the two yet though. "So is this the 60th Mr. Right for 2012 alone?"

"Ha ha Bella… But I'm being serious. I think that this is serious. I'm sure that this is serious" she said, looking up from her screen momentarily to give me a look of dedication and certainty until I acknowledged her with some unspoken praising gesture.

"Well in that case if you're so serious, then I can't wait to meet him" I smiled supportively before picking up the sheets on the corner of my desk and double checking through them until the door opened.

The receptionist from down the hall walked in to catch our attention. "Girls, Mark Johnson is here early for the appointment at 10. Do you want me to stall him until 10 or are you okay for now?"

I looked over to Amy who was ghost-white. I grabbed my paper pile and waved a hand at her. "Come as soon as you've done. I can go through an intro of the project and then through my plans. Just say you got held up with traffic, but be as quick as you can" I told her as I walked out of the room, through the corridor to prep myself in the shared meeting room, awaiting our client…

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><p>The meeting went well, too well and our expectation of enjoying a relatively quite remainder of the day turned into a rush after the client told us after Amy had joined me that he was so please with the drafts, but requested to see additional polished pieces tonight which he was going to collect from the office later for his personal use.<p>

That meant both of us working at Amy-speed until the job was done and until we could both take a breather.

Fortunately, by 5 o'clock the work was all polished off and finished which led to the waiting game, as we wasted time for the next hour until Amy got up to leave the room with her handbag. "Do you mind waiting for the client? I'll be back in a minute, but I just want to freshen up since he's picking me up here."

"Sure, take as long as you want" I smiled before she accepted my offer and walked out the room.

After Amy left the room, I spent another ten minutes replying to messages I'd received throughout the day on my phone before I heard a knock on the office door. Instantly, I grabbed the designs and got up to answer it, naturally expecting Mark Johnson and getting quite the surprise when the salt-and-pepper haired middle aged man turned out to be a young blonde.

"Will? What are you doing here?" I asked in surprise, making the mistake of taking the paper's in my arms back over to my desk, which allowed him sufficient time and opportunity to let himself into the room.

"Hey - and uh, oh I've wanted to talk to you for a while."

I stayed standing across the room from him, crossing my arms as a cue for him to speak. "Talk then. Australia's a free country."

"Why are you still with him? Rikki, Zane and I were there for you, right there, you could've walked away. He's a monster, Bella. How can you not see that and stay with him?!" he questioned, visibly disgusted as he gestured his arm in my direction.

"He made a mistake, but he's not a 'monster'. Trust me, you have absolutely no right to judge him, Will. You don't know him. Listen - think of every bad thing that has happened in your life and that would all add up to about half of what _he's_ been through."

"Sure, I don't know him, but I at least have the right to make a judgment about the fact that he hit you. Abuse is completely inexcusable regardless of whatever the hell he's 'been through'" Will replied with irritation, using his fingers to visibly mark the quotations at the end of his sentence.

He was right. There was no excuse and I had been completely shocked and betrayed more than ever when he attacked me that night. The problem was bigger than just me getting hurt though and I knew that I had to power on though and have faith in the risky decisions that I was making, based on what I _do_ know about him. That's where my defense against the truth that Will was trying to drill into me was coming from.

"Oh, so you haven't ever made mistakes before?" I questioned rhetorically, both of us full-knowing the answer without him even needing to reply.

He sighed, running a hand through his short hair. "Come on, Bella… You know that I have."

"Damn straight I do."

Will looked around the room, displaying a look of desperation as he took a few steps closer with his facial expressions softening. "What you are doing is really dangerous. You've already been hurt by him once, I just don't want that happening again.

I nodded, giving him a small smile with the aim of reassurance. "Thank you but I know what I'm doing, Will. If I play my cards the right way, I know that we are going to be able to ride this one out."

"Are you kidding? 'Play your cards right?' Bella, this isn't a poker game that we're talking about here – this is your life!"

I took a deep breath, cringing as I remembered back to the conversation from a few weeks ago that I was slowly detesting more and more as time was progressing.

"_Dan, I love you, but he has the right for me to tell him!"_

_Daniel sighed, taking a step closer to me brushing his hand against my cheek as he placed it lovingly on my cheek. "Do you remember why you didn't tell him in the first place? Remember that Bella?"_

_I nodded, looking away from the painful memories I had experienced over a year and a half ago, although it seemed not that long ago._

"_If you tell him, I'm going to lose Allie. We don't share DNA, but in absolutely every other way, I'm her father. I don't know what I would do if I lost her too… You and Allie were my lifeline."_

"_Allie would still love you to bits, Dan, but Will deserves to know that he has a daughter out there."_

"_You'd already given him that chance to know so many times before. If he was __**meant**__ to know, he would've a long time ago. Promise me you won't tell him?" _

_And as I regretfully said those two words that he needed to hear, I realized that he would do anything to keep us. He would do anything for Allie and for her to stay 'his'. _

"_I promise."_

"We made a deal, Will. He's not going to hurt me again."

"Oh really? I never realized that you were into Russian roulette!"

"Just listen to me Will!" I pleaded louder than the volume that we had been previously speaking. "Daniel and I, we've sorted things out. I gave him the promise that he needed and for as long as I keep that, we're safe, alright? Please just drop this and trust me that I've got everything sorted."

"What? A deal with the Devil?" Will asked, looking for affirmation with bewilderment before rolling his eyes with a sarcastic comment that followed. "I'm so happy for you. What's the deal?"

"I can't say." I replied simply with a sigh and shrug of my burdened shoulders.

Another step closer. The gap lessened once again.

"Come on Bels. You can tell me…" Will replied softly and calmly, his words drenched in reassurance.

"It's not a matter that I don't _want_ to talk about, well that too, but I literally _can't_."

My promise was my lifeline – my bluff, my trump card. If I said _anything_, the second that Dan knew Will knew, it would be all over, red rover. I already knew from experience what sort of drastic measures he would take to keep Allie.

He scratched his chin and looked up at me once again with wary looking eyes. "Bella? Can you at least tell me if you're involved in something illegal or not?"

"Brilliant!" I retaliated with annoyance after my skeptical look that questioned his query faded. "You call Daniel a jerk when look who's talking and then you have the nerve to waltz in here, call my boyfriend a devil then accuse me of a being criminal now?! Get out!" I yelled at him pointing firmly to the door, getting ready to walk over and push him out of it soon.

"I'm sorry! I just don't understand! I just want to know if there's something that I can do to help you or not" he pleaded with me, taking another step closer to me as opposed to the opposite direction of the door.

I sighed. "Believe it or not, every second that you stay out of this, you're helping me."

"What does that mean?"

"It means that I have way too much riding on this and that if I leave him, it's going to be damaging with more repercussions than if I stay with him. Plus, do I need to remind you of a little mythical secret that you're keeping?! He would expose me in a heartbeat if I left him. He is chronically jealous. Even if I vanished off the face of the earth, he would take all that anger out on an innocent stranger. This is my mess, Will. I'm not going to let someone else cop the blame. If I left, I wouldn't even be able to handle what he would do to me, to others and to himself, so what's the point?"

He nodded solemnly and seriously, taking another step closer to the point that he was standing directly in front of me and we were looking at each other square in the eye. "Well if there is anything I can do to help you, let me know."

"You don't get it Will" I sighed, rubbing my eye with my hand. "If I told you the slightest thing about any of this, it would change _everything_. I'm in too deep past the point of being helped, okay? You have no idea of how deep this all stretches. It is just like the black hole."

He touched the side of arm reassuringly, his touch tingling against my skin in reassurance. "Change can be a good thing."

I wouldn't admit it to him, but his half-smile and touch brought back the warmth and trust of several years ago, back when our relationship was in its hay day and before things started to go downhill.

I opened my mouth to reply and in that one moment, I couldn't believe myself that despite everything else and all the wreckage it would cause, I'd actually considered just blurting the truth out… Jumping in and speaking before thinking. I'm glad that I didn't. Like Daniel had said before, if he was meant to know, he would've. He would've still been there in the first place.

However, I was fortunately interrupted by the clipping sound of the door on the other side of the room opening. In sync, we took a step away from each other and his arm moved to being placed on his hip. Amy walked into the room and over to us with a smile, evidently oblivious to our closeness before she had entered.

"Hey" she beamed with a spring in her step, until she reached Will and latched her arm through his which had formed a loop as it sat on his hip. "Are you ready to go?"

I looked incredulously with hurt at the 'couple', mentally trying to piece the betrayal together with disbelief. "You've got to be kidding me… Will, you know she's my friend and Amy, you know full well that he's my ex! Did either of you even consider giving me a heads up or warning?!"

Amy stood there, not changing her position from next to him and although Will attempted to reason with a tone of saying "Bella…" that I knew too well, I ignored him and snatched my bag angrily off my desk and headed for the door immediately after. "Here's a nice date for you two – you can wait around until Mark arrives and give him the papers!"

Seconds later, I was out of the door and letting my anger fuel the speed I was rushing out of the office in. I don't know whether I was more angry or hurt.

The fact that Will had put on such a façade, such a façade that I had nearly trusted, all for it to be one big hurtful joke. I hated the man I didn't know who he had become. Not to mention Amy! Umpteen times we'd discussed rules of dating during pure office boredom and one we both agreed on implicitly was not dating friend's exes. There goes that for a joke too!

* * *

><p>After that uncomfortable afternoon, it was less than 48 hours later when I was sitting on the couch in my pyjamas, drinking a coffee and flicking through the morning newspaper half-heartedly on my day off. In front of me, I also focused on watched Allie hobbling around unsteadily and holding onto the coffee table for support as she slowly walked around it in circles, ready to catch the thirteen month old if she had a misplaced or uncoordinated step before a fall.<p>

I'd just passed the pages of the newspaper that dealt with the cover articles that were presented on today's edition of the front cover and was passing into the topical issues when I noticed a familiar face.

Although seeing Will's face on the printed page caught my attention, I wasn't all that surprised. The Gold Coast paper was obviously proud of their diving golden boy and over the years since we'd met I was used to seeing him pop up here or there in for one achievement or another of his, or being provided with an update of what he was up to next.

With that blasé frame of mind, I was in no way prepared for the following words that I read upon my eyes shifting over to the title.

'_**Illegal Art Claims Local Former Pro-Diver' **_

My stomach plummeted and my heart sank as I shuffled with the paper in desperation, dropping it as fast as I could with a unsteady breath like the wind had been knocked out of me, before picking up the innocent little pink-clad toddler for comfort and courage, knowing that going to my boyfriend a few rooms away would only make matters worse.

"Oh baby girl. I'm sorry" I sighed, holding Allie tightly in my arms as I wiped a tear away and mustered up the sickening courage to pick up the paper again, pulling it closer to my face for my eyes to see clearer despite my dilated and welling up pupils. It didn't help. Between my emotions, my shock and my sickened feeling, my eyes couldn't focus and only picked up key words on the page, unable to manage the whole article.

'_Will Benjamin, 22'... 'After fall from highway overpass on the Pacific Motorway, Coomera'… 'Midnight… Appears accidental… Waiting for Coroners confirmation' _were the essential pieces of devastating information that I had plucked out.

My stomach ached from holding in the tears that I wasn't allowing to surface. I felt like I was choking, rasping helplessly for air as I felt completely sick to my stomach with pain. My perspective of the world felt like it was changing from the grief…

I was too late.

I'd been caught up with my mess with Daniel that I hadn't stopped to consider the implications on my daughter or her oblivious father. She would never know her paternal father and he would never even know that he had created a child.

Although we hadn't been together in a long time and we had both moved on, I doubted that it hurt any less. The last time I'd seen him, I'd left hating him and now I found out that he was _dead_ by reading the _newspaper_! Rikki lived with him for Pete's sake and she hadn't bothered to call me and give me the news first-hand of knowing that my ex had died?! Obviously not...

Despite my pain, my heartbreak and unanswered questions, the one and only thing that I was certain of was that I had no idea where things were going to go from here anymore…

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><p><strong>Ugh... That's done. Good. Finally. I've spent so much time over the last two days spending every moment either writing or thinking about this damn chapter (ironically, I was writing at Amy-speed)! This is bearing in mind that I modified something to be completely different to the original plan of this facet in the storyline (not going to say what though!) so I'm not sure whether it's come across well or whether I'm happy with it. I just wanted to get it up before tomorrow since I won't have net access for close to two weeks, so don't judge. <strong>

**But anyway, the chapter! What did you think? Bella's deal with the Devil... Allie's paternity lie... Amy & Will's betrayal... The death of Will Benjamin... **

**Now, if anything is coming across as vague or unclear and if there's something you're uncertain about, hang in there! It's probably because there's a few fundamental explanations and chunks of the Bella/Will/Dan/Allie story that are yet to be made and explained, but will be shortly. **

**HUGE thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter of this - I'm honestly shocked that people are still interested in this story and are sticking with it! Thank you! Would absolutely love your opinion of this one too! The more I know, the sooner I update...**

**Next time, we look at the death of Will from another perspective at the Zikkill share house where there's more to the story about the death. Also, another shocking family secret will surface to one of the unsuspecting characters! **


	15. What's In A Name?

**Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter! Woo, the most reviews I've had in a long time! Sorry that this chapter took a little longer to be updated, but I was on holiday, minus the internet connection. I've actually started another lighter H2o fanfic based on the trip - good fun! **

**Oh hey, this is probably the last update of Far From Perfection for 2012 - so yeah... ground-breaking stuff, hey? Kidding. I'm tired and have developed a significantly dry sense of humour tonight. Ask no questions, get no answers... Does that even make sense? Oh stuff this, I'll let you just read the chapter already! **

**Enjoy!**

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><p><strong>Chapter 15 – What's In A Name? <strong>

_Will's POV_

I was in a dreamy daze somewhere between the opposing states of consciousness and unconsciousness... Until the reality of waking up became harder to my sensitive ears that felt as though a bomb was detonating in melody next to them – also known as hearing a phone go off while asleep.

I picked up the white object and answered it, pressing it somewhere against my ear and face groggily. "Hello?" I asked as normally as I could manage considering I was more than half asleep and most certainly not prepared for the screech that followed it.

"WILL?!" was the first word spoken by the unknown, although familiar sounding, caller who blasted my name through the line from wherever they were.

I groaned from the sensation that I would've sworn was the pain of my eardrums bleeding, mumbling some form of response that I had planned to initially sound like "Yes" or "What?"

There was a sigh of relief along with multiple other excited reassurances as the caller started addressing someone else with the same name as my dad, while still on the phone to me. That's when everything fell into place, making sense.

"Oh, mum" I added less groggily as I sat up in bed and rubbed my face.

"Will! Oh thank goodness, you're not dead! Are you okay?! We were booking flights down to the Gold Coast!"

I chuckled to myself. "Good to hear from you too! Yeah, I'm fine. How are things with you and dad?" I asked as I was attempting to lead into a conversational catch up with my mother that was led astray as she blurted out a whole unbelievable story about a newspaper article that claimed I was dead. _Seriously_? At this stage, I was thinking that a bad dream or nightmare had been involved with mum or dad and this was just a protective checkup call to make sure that they had been wrong.

... But it turns out that I was wrong as Zane walked into my room after the call with my parents ended, holding a newspaper opened and folded to a specific article, letting out a pent up and anxious sigh as he clutched onto the doorframe, pointing to me. "Oh good!" he beamed before speechlessly gesturing between me and the article that was in his other hand. "Don't get me wrong mate, I'm stoked that you're alright, but what the hell is going on?!"

"Tell me and then we'll both know!" I replied throwing my hands up in frustration and confusion as I got out of bed and walked over to my friend, completely puzzled about my entire day so far… The bizarre phone call, Zane's check also and then whatever this newspaper article that was causing everyone to check whether I was dead or not over.

I snatched the daily newspaper out of Zane's hand and held it up to my face to read. The picture of me on the page was enough to weird me out alone, but the photo was nothing compared to the title: _**'Illegal Art Claims Local Former Pro-Diver'**_.

What on earth was going on? Was this some kind of weird prank? I was expecting Fitzy or Kyle Sandilands to jump out at any point in time cueing Zane to double over in laughter at the joke or _Gotcha!_ prank. But it was just the two of us standing there completely oblivious as we tried to piece everything together.

After reading the article, the first thing that I decided to do was look at the title of the newspaper and call directories to make a phone call that would give some sort of explanation as to _why_ my face was plastered over a page announcing my unfortunate 'death'.

Had they received a false tipoff? An incorrect source? _Surely_ there was some sort of explanation behind this stunt that had people, including myself, questioning what on earth was happening and why they had heard nothing about the fact that I was supposedly dead firsthand.

I waited for all of the appropriate cues on the mechanically voiced program that the newspaper had set up, until I reached an actual, human, live voice. From there, all I had to do was state my name and the fact that I was calling in regard to the article that featured in today's paper and I was directed straight through to the managerial editor.

Before I could even get a word in to ask my question, I was overwhelmed over the speaker with multiple desperate apologies that begged for forgiveness over the mistake in the confirmation of critical data and the mix up that I was _still_ being left in the dark about. Before replying to any of the manager's apologies, I first and foremost asked for the explanation that was the crucial and missing piece of this puzzle.

I listened intently after the editor had confirmed the fact that I had actually read the article before he explained the confusion with the incident. Apparently 'Will Benjamin' was a common name that obviously didn't just belong to me in the Gold Coast. Unfortunately, there was another guy out there with the exact same name as me and who was the same age. Apart from the essential details of the fact that my identity had been mistaken for someone else with the same basic details as myself, the editor was quite sketchy about the rest of the misunderstanding before once again offering me his 'sincere' apologies and ending the call.

I put my phone down and Zane who had been watching me for the entire call looked up at me with the same question that his expression had been asking. "So?"

"Apparently there's a mix up. Someone else with my name died and they put the photo of the wrong one in the paper… It's really sad if you think about it, someone so similar to-" I said, starting to explain to Zane as we looked over the article again before hearing the ring of the doorbell.

The two of us made our way downstairs and Zane mumbled to me how he thought that it was probably "journos or whatever" since I was '_famous', _according to Zane.

Opening the door and revealing the visitor proved quite the falsehood compared to what Zane had initially predicted. "Bella? Hey…" was my awkward reaction to answering the door with my unexpected ex-girlfriend who was visibly upset, holding her mythical or phantom baby that had previously been solely heard of, but never seen.

Bella didn't answer my awkward greeting as she took a step back and did a double take, looking from me to Zane and back at me, before looking around. She opened her mouth numerous times to speak, but only air came out as she never spoke a single word in shock.

"You saw the newspaper, didn't you?" I asked, getting a still incoherent nod in response, before Zane nudged me to whisper the fact that he was going to try and call his family's lawyer for any information as he left the two of us, well three, standing there.

I figured that I was best off to stay silent until the blonde had wrapped her confused mind around the event, like I had needed to, just minutes earlier.

The next emotion that spread across her face that you could almost pinpoint as she began piecing the situation without the nitty-gritty details together, was relief as she too exhaled like Zane and my mum had before she moved closer and gave me an extremely brief hug until she slapped my back, turning it into a somewhat bro-like-hug almost as soon as the embrace had began.

"Sorry, I overstepped the mark" she said, I suppose in an attempt to rationalize the hug, before asking her first question since she arrived. "Is this some sort of cruel and tedious joke? I knew that you and Zane hanging out was a mistake."

I shook my head. "Unfortunately not… Well it is somewhat, but not completely. _A_ Will Benjamin died, but it obviously wasn't me… The newspaper got the wrong one."

"Oh gosh…" Bella sighed, covering her mouth with a saddened expression and sigh as she looked ahead with no focus while she digested the news that I had just fed her. "What a mess. The poor family of that guy… Well you too, but at least you and your family have the better half of this ordeal."

"Yeah, I know" I said with a solemn nod, in understanding of the point that she was making. "It's freaking me out a bit actually, how similar I was with someone without even knowing it and how that could've been _me_."

There was an uncomfortable silence as we both considered what to say next, sharing an awkward glance before I started tapping my foot silently on the ground and she rocked her baby, to create the image that we were busy, although we both knew that neither of us were.

"Why did you do it, Will?" Bella questioned eventually as someone had much-needed to speak and break the silence, although I wasn't exactly thrilled with the uncomfortable question. "You barely know Amy at all. I know that you're not the sort of guy who just jumps into a relationship like that."

She had a point. In fact it wasn't surprising that she knew me too well, not that I was going to go admitting that right now in sacrifice of my reputation and dignity. Stupid pride.

"We just clicked really well the other day…" I started to say but once again Bella proved how well she knew me as she cut my attempt of lying off.

"Stop it Will. I can tell you're lying – you squint or look away. Just tell me the truth" Bella added to her last plea for the truth, looking increasingly irritated by the runaround that I was admittedly attempting to prolong.

This led to another sigh of mine as her look of agitation increased in the meantime, which meant me swallowing my pride to at least unveil a slight amount of the truth. "I was really confused when I asked her out and I just wanted to meet up with her to try and see if there was anything else that I could nut out by meeting up with her…"

"So you're just using her? Wow, that's so much better. I can see that you've really matured over the last 19 months! Anyway … I'm really glad that you're okay, Will, but I should get going" Bella summarized with an evident discomfort as she pointed to the door before quickly and oddly rushing over to the door which was her target.

There was a strange wave as she left and I took my time to reply to her until I replied with a: "Yeah, bye…"

After seeing her and the little girl out of the door, I shut it with an exhale before setting off to search through the house for my housemate, of the male variation.

"Zane?" I called out multiple times as I poked my head into rooms unsuccessfully before it was answered when the dark-haired guy walked out of his room while separating his phone from his ear.

However, upon meeting up in the foyer by the stairs downstairs of our shared house that was considered to be on the large-side in size, he didn't answer my call and instead started speaking about a totally different matter.

"So I called the lawyer. He said that he doesn't deal specifically with this sort of business relating to commercial and personal cases, but apparently someone else from his firm can meet up with you to talk today. He's going to call the newspaper again and dig up what he can from their side of the story, and then we'll go from there."

I nodded vaguely, understanding what my friend was saying, but without being on the same page as him. "Alright, thanks Zane, but what's the point of all of this? Why the lawyer? I thought we had sorted the problem out when I called the newspaper up…"

He looked at me in disbelief, a look that I recognized, given that it was the same look that I gave him on a more frequent basis in question of how thick he really was and whether whatever was the topic or point of the discussion had _really_ gone over his head.

"Are you kidding, mate?! Cash! If they've involved you in this article wrongly due to their fault or due to negligence, then you could sue the pants off the company!"

"Why, Zane? What if I don't want to?"

Again, another 'are-you-stupid?' look in disbelief was granted to me from Zane. I guess you can't teach an old dog, new tricks. Despite the fact that Zane had changed from the person that he was in the way that he had become more human, money was still clearly always going to be the root and epitome of life for him.

"Seriously Will? I know that you're a frugal person, but are you joking? This is the opportunity of your lifetime, for you to pick up a whole wad of cash, effortlessly, placed right in your lap and you're even having a second thought about it?! I _dream_ of this sort of thing happening to me!"

"Fine…" I sighed, already sensing my regret at the agreement as I started making my upstairs to get ready with Zane happily yelling the time of the appointment.

* * *

><p>Less than 15 minutes later, I was back downstairs dressed in a rarely-used suit that I believe only made its last appearance at Lewis and Cleo's wedding. Walking into the kitchen to unhealthily grab an energy bar for breakfast, I was surprised by the presence of Zane looking supremely similar to myself in a formal suit that was a less startling look for him.<p>

"Ready to go?" he asked as I pulled one of the last remaining packets out of the box.

"What do you mean? Are you coming too?" He only had the chance to nod in response before Rikki, half-asleep and still pajama-clad walked into the room too, smirking to herself in amusement as she looked at the two of us. "Wow! Look at you two looking like black and white penguins! Who died?"

I frowned at her comment which was intended to be humorous. "Rikki, don't joke about that today."

"Huh? What do you mean? What have I missed?"

Leaning against the bench comfortably appearing to get settled in to tell a story, Zane started to explain to our housemate who was evidently left in the dark regarding today's affairs already. "Well you've obviously _missed_ today's paper, and it was apparently Will here _who_ died."

"What? Okay, I've bit my tongue about the matter a few times in the past, but its official today. You two have lost the plot!" Rikki said hysterically until Zane passed her the newspaper with the article that he had been coveting and keeping awkwardly closely to himself today.

The blonde was silent for a few minutes as she mentally read the article, but the uncontrolled expressions on her face did all the talking for her.

"Oh, wow…" she managed to mutter before covering her mouth and handing the paper back to Zane as though it was a contagious infection or something. "So what are you going to do about it?"

"Zane's arranged a meeting for me today through his lawyer's firm, but I don't really know. I don't what there is to 'do' about it."

Rikki nodded in acknowledgment at my response to her, still appearing visibly shocked as Zane nudged my arm. "Come on mate, no time to waste. We better head off now."

"We? I can go myself, Zane."

"I know that, but I want to come. I'm curious about what they'll say."

"I can call you when I get out of the meeting…" I began to suggest to my insistent friend.

However, I only received a shake of his head. "Nup. Not good enough. I'm too curious – gotta come."

I let out a sigh of defeat for the second time today, picking up my keys and gesturing for him to follow me. "Bye Rikki."

* * *

><p>It was a horrendous 25 minutes later that the two of us had finally arrived at and parked what felt like 100 kilometers away from the building after what should have been a 10 minute trip, but was only increased and over doubled in time due to the crazy city traffic.<p>

As we entered the building I was overwhelmed by the up-marketed, furnished interior of the law firm. Passing the judgmental stares of nosy receptionists as Zane confidently led us through to the offices that he was more familiar with, I wondered what our case would've looked like from appearances. Two accused criminals meeting with lawyers desperately hoping to hear the hope of a positive outcome? Two entrepreneur business partners, turned rivals, fighting over pointless and solution-less money? Regardless, I greatly doubt that any of those judging faces would have been able to pinpoint the fact that I was about to learn that I could sue the pants off the newspaper, writers and editors that had entangled me within their accidentally dodgy story less than 24 hours earlier…

That was the only option that the lawyer had presented as a feasible case.

Prior to the meeting, the… _my_ lawyer had also made a revelational phone-call to the newspaper company and managed to surface the lies that I had excused and left uncovered… The entire article had been written with the _only_ confirmation being that the accident had happened and that a 22 year old, identified as Will Benjamin at the scene had died.

That was the only official pieces of information that the Police had released to the media and namely, to the newspaper reporter that had been at the scene of the accident.

From that point on, in a hurry for their newspaper to provide news of the accident first, the writers and editors had been left to their own vices and took a chance with the remaining information... This was namely a Facebook search to excerpt the photograph on my profile which was used as the photograph in conjunction to the article that had created this mess…

Unfortunately, I had been the first Gold Coast-residing 'Will Benjamin' that fit the 22 year old criteria on the search and realizing the factor of my previous brush with fame from my diving days, the writers either forgot about, or ignored the fact that it hadn't been confirmed, just for the sake of producing the news of the accident and more importantly, first.

They hadn't taken into account the fact that 'Will Benjamin' is a common name… Both my first and last name is. And that is where my meeting with the lawyer was brought to - the revelation that I am now applicable to sue the newspaper under '_knowledge of misinformation'_ or '_the liability of negligent slander'_.

The question was whether I was going to or not. Sure, easy money because someone didn't do their job right, but at the end of the day, I would still be making money because someone died.

It just didn't feel right.

* * *

><p>As I walked inside the house, with Zane hot on my heels as he still kept trying to convince me that I was complete idiot to ignore this opportunity, Rikki came out to meet us appearing to be interested in what I had to say from the meeting.<p>

"So, how did you go?" Rikki asked eagerly and curiously.

"Well in case you hadn't noticed Mr. Bill Gates behind me, I'm up for being able to sue the newspaper company for a hell of a lot of money."

Rikki looked up at me for confirmation in my expression to make sure that I wasn't just joking around with her. "No way, you are kidding me, aren't you?"

I shook my head to answer her question. "No, Rikki. Why would I joke about something like that?! Someone still died!"

"Calm down, Will" Rikki replied with a common soothing gesture of her hands that she used in conjunction with her statement.

I was about to bite back about the fact that I _am_ calm (if I didn't think about the finer implicating details of this mess), until we were all disrupted by two audible 'knock, knock's' as the wood of the front door frame was knocked on, along with the unexpected visitor saying the 'knock knock' too as they peeped their head inside the house a little from their spot standing on the door mat.

The unexpected and probably unwelcome visitor immediately struck me as a complete, just marginally younger carbon copy of one of my housemates who too gawked in shock at the person standing at the door...

* * *

><p><strong>So, I know you're going to be thinking what a ridiculous scenario and that I've more than jumped the shark, right? Well the base of Will's wrongly accused death was actually inspired by a true event. Late last year, there was a very similar scenario to this one and was plastered on the front page of the newspaper after apparently dying. He too had a very common name, and whoops, wrong guy and it had all been due to an incorrect search on Facebook! My teacher knew him and got the whole story about how he could sue the paper and such like, so yeah, not as unlikely as it seems. <strong>

**Anyway, about the rest of the chapter... Let me know what you thought! You have no idea how helpful your own opinions are! **

**Next time: We learn who is at the door, their connection to Rikki or Zane, along with their reaction. **


	16. The Blank Page

**Hellooooo! First and foremost, Aussies, have you melted yet? Today was a SCORCHER, I think here in the city it got to about 45 degrees! So please be mindful of that with this chapter and eliminate the cause of any grammar errors down to heatstroke. **

**Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter. I've told you once, I've told a thousand times how greatly I appreciate your words! **

**Anyway, enjoy the chapter! I'm attempting to get to as many chapters written as possible before I plunge back into the hell hole of school!**

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><p><strong>Chapter 16 – The Blank Page<strong>

_Rikki's POV_

Zane, Will and myself stood in our places, staring in shock at the unidentified, yet familiar visitor who was standing outside of the house and by the open front door.

Will was the first of us to snap out of the trance that we had mentally been encased in; leading to physical paralysis in our places.

"Hi, can I help you?" Will questioned as he walked up to the door, leaving Zane and myself to continue gawking in a surprised shock, unable to move or do anything until we had more answered questions or had reached conclusions.

The girl at the door looked Will up and down cautiously before looking back into the house where Zane and I were. "Uh yeah, I've been told that Rikki Chadwick lives here. Who are you?"

"Her housemate, Will Benjamin" Will replied coolly, putting his hand out as a friendly gesture, before he too looked behind his back towards me.

Once again, the girl skeptically examined his jutted out hand that he was hoping that she would take to shake. As she let out a very slight nod that I only noticed due to the intensity of my stare and gaze at the girl, she shook Will's hand, before looking back in Zane and my own direction.

I really should have moved, I registered the fact that I had needed to and that Will and the girl were expecting me too, but I was mesmerized by the icy-blue orbs of the young teenager that were as clear as the depths of the ocean that I was privileged enough to be able to swim out to – so familiar.

"Rikki?" Will asked quietly, almost as though he was holding onto hope of the chance that the girl was severely deaf and was unable to hear him speak to me in case I had ignored the call, but all that his question had done was increase the interest and hope in the girl's eyes.

I took a few steps towards the door slotting (subtly but comfortably enough for my liking) behind Will's tall shoulders and only peering my head out from around him as a protection.

"Rikki?" was once again the next word spoken and the next question asked, but not by Will this time, but instead by the unidentified teenager on the doorstep.

"Who are you?" was the only defensive question that I replied with, crossing my arms in front of my stomach to link my body language in conjunction with my mood and the defensively strong vibe that I was hoping to portray.

"Tamsin Hunt. Call me Tam" she replied as she took a friendly step closer to Will and I with a smile spreading across her face the more she spoke. I recognized the last name from all those times during primary school when drawing up family trees and writing my mother's maiden name was necessary for the _'All About Me'_ type topics.

"You're my sister!"

* * *

><p>The minutes after the shocking revelation were a complete blur that I'll never, ever have any picture of what happened. Honestly, I could have confessed the dark secrets of my subconscience that you attempt to bury away forever. I could have moved to China. I could have made out with Will andor Zane… I still would have had no inkling or memory of it.

That what that Tam person, my sister, was saying was shocking… Life changing. It was one of those moments that would have had some _serious_ advertising and foreshadowing of it with a soap show. Even if I had been told to prepare for and expect to be told the most shocking thing ever, even in spite of the fact that I had already been mentally piecing that revelation together, nothing would have prepared me to hear that confirmed and audibly.

At some point since then, the four of us had shifted to the lounge room, so now I was sitting... How I should've been positioned for the sake of my health when I was delivered that news as I was standing at the door.

Coming back into focus of the others, I listened as Will and Zane entertained Tamsin with small talk and the offer of a drink which she had rejected. So she felt hydrated… _Interesting_? Not what I was wanting to know.

"So why are you here? Why are you here **now**? Hear about _my_ dad dying and think that you might get a bit of easy cash from it? Nice try sweetie, but it's not going to be a matter of thousands that you would get – it would be a matter of cents" I warned firmly, but attempting to coat it with a delivery that oozed with sickly sweetness… feigned sweetness; no sweeter than artificial saccharin.

I continued studying the younger girl closely, noting that she had squirmed a little by the end of my last questions. Ha, she knew the inheritance was next to worthless, she, whoever _she_ was would be out of here faster than you could say '_bluffing'_.

"I'm sure that it looks that way, Rikki, I really do understand how it must appear, but the first thing you should know about me is that money doesn't fool me. I'm only young, but I understand and have witnessed firsthand how little it's actually worth. I don't want yours or our dad's money" she said looking straight at me. Those ice-blue eyes sent a chill down my spine as her gaze stayed firmly focused and earnestly at me.

I've got to give her credit. This girl was good. I still don't believe her 'meaningless money' blah, but I was curious to know what was driving this girl who appeared to be in her mid-teens. Sure the share-house was a bit of a suburban castle, but _I_ knew that I was only renting this place. Perhaps it seemed luring enough for a bored fifteen year old to give it a shot.

"Yeah, whatever… Trust me I know all that too. You're preaching to the converted here" I replied with an uninterested eye roll, before shuffling forward in my seat on the lounge and cupping my chin in my mouth to intensify my concentration and focus which was directed at the girl in front of me, with the intention of finding some way to make her crack. "What's in it for you, kid? Why the heck would a girl like you be interested in pursuing something as risky as this? One test and you'll be named and shamed as a fraud."

"What test? DNA test?! Go for your life. I'll tell you again. I'm not interested in inheriting money or possessions! I know you and your dad's circumstances, there wouldn't be much to go around anyway. All I want is to know my sister before it's too late like it was with dad" she replied, matching my positioning that I had been attempting to crack her, which only ended up strengthening what she had to say. This girl was strong.

I pouted, before licking my lips as I considered where to go from there. "How do you know this? How do you know mine and dad's 'circumstances'?"

"Carol. _Our_ aunt Carol… She came and saw me. Said that had died and she explained the full story to me... When mum left dad, she was pregnant with me. Carol said that mum had told him about it at some point, but I don't know… Ever since I can remember she's been a drunk. It could've been a hallucination, it could've happened; I guess we'll never know. Anyway, she told me all this so that I could know the truth, especially since dad's gone… She wanted me to know that dad wasn't the self-indulgent idiot that took you away from mum like she the man that she had tried to paint him as, and that's why I've wanted to track down you" she explained earnestly and seemingly honestly as she let out a nervous sigh and clenched her hands together while looking down and waiting for some sort of response from me assumedly.

I didn't know what to think. Her story added up, but it didn't. Sure mum had left me and dad long ago, but that aside, from what I could remember she was never a _bad_ person as she had implied that she was. I looked over to the stunned and visibly gob smacked silent boys that I lived with for some sort of help. Nothing.

That was it, after hearing that, the shock snapped me. The shock of a sister, the shock of my mum - I couldn't take that hit. I stood up and walked away, storming up to my room, yelling to the girl behind me: "No… No. You've got it wrong. I don't have a sister. Never have, never will…"

* * *

><p>My poor body was in an overdrive of emotions. The confusion of the news that I had been dealt, my denial that quaked my mind in shock and especially the anger and intense heat that was burning off of my flaring temper.<p>

I sat upright on the edge of my bed in a trance, staring at the white wall that was facing me, a wall which had all of a sudden become the most interesting and soothing thing in the world.

Although I had isolated myself up in my room for a while, it was only a few minutes later that Will came up and lightly knocked on the wood of my door frame.

I looked over my shoulder to see his calm and genuinely caring face that was more comforting than the white wall and was exactly what I needed right now. "Come in. I've had more than enough of door knockers today" I muttered grumpily, which Will ignored as he sat down on the side of the bed next to me instead.

"Are you okay? That's quite a bombshell to be dropped on you."

I rolled my eyes, keeping a sarcastic front which at this point seemed easier. "No, really? I can't think of much more settling or calming news than that, can you?"

"Rikki…" he warned sternly, although still calmly as the decibel of his voice hadn't altered since his initial concerned comments when he entered into my room.

"What, Will? What do you want me to say? Blurt my feelings out and tell you how I'm not sure how to feel?! How to think?! How I'm not sure who I am more angry at and that I don't know what to do about that blonde ticking time bomb downstairs? There you go, if you want something to be all nice and reassuring and counseling about, there you have it."

He let out a sigh as he stayed looking down at his feet momentarily either for the power of pausing or else in a scramble as to dig up something that he could say to me in response. "Rikki, I _can't_ tell you what to think, what to feel, how to act, all of that, okay, so I won't. I'm sure you must be feeling so confused about all of this and that you just want answers, but I just wanted to say to you that you should try and take a step back and look at this from another perspective."

"Oh wow, you're a built in psychiatric counselor now too are you? A healing guru?"

Another sigh. "No. I'm just saying that you should look past all of the nitty gritty details that your parents or mum would be responsible for about _why_ you didn't know about her, and just look at what's in front of you. Well downstairs."

I didn't respond and tried to erase what I'd heard Will say since it made too much sense. It was too good of a suggestion when all I wanted was just to be angry and alone.

"Now I'm not the best judge of character, but I think that she sounded fairly legit" he added without my reply to his last statements. "How old is she? 15? 16? She's still extremely young to try and track you down, of her own accord and risk being hurt or rejected by putting herself out there _just_ because she wants to know her sister. She's probably looking for answers too."

"She's not my sister though! She's a complete stranger!" I debated in disagreement.

"Yeah, you're right. Now she is, but how will you know her unless you try? Trust me, when you have a painful sister like Sophie, it can be easy to take for granted... But despite how frustrating she can be, I would still want to know her if I was in your situation. Family's one of those 'the good, the bad and the ugly' things."

"Okay William, you can leave now. You're getting far too wise for yourself now."

A smile spread across his face as he turned around after the point of stopping at the door. "Thanks. I _think_ that that's a compliment, coming from you."

* * *

><p>About ten minutes after Will left my room, I felt that I had cooled down enough to a manageable level. From the stairs I could see the back of three heads that appeared to be awkwardly sitting there in silence. As soon as my footsteps drew near enough to the trio and to the extent that they were audible, the three heads swiveled around to face me.<p>

"Do you want me to start a Royal wave for you lot while I'm at it too?"

I only received an amused response that I hadn't expected from Tam as she snickered at my admittedly lame attempt of a joke. It was obvious that she wasn't yet used to my _wild_ sense of humour that the two boys who failed to even flinch at the comment, proving that they were evidently desensitized to my humour in contrast.

"So anyway… Who's up for a game of Monopoly?" I questioned with a clap of my hands to join them together in a somewhat like a fist shaped formation.

This time, the trio kept their reactions through their facial expressions synchronized. A look of cynicism.

Will was the first to verbalize the group's questioning looks. "Um, Rikki? Don't you think that you and Tamsin should talk?"

"Kidding, Will. Kidding."

The discomfort that had grown on Tam's face since my previous comment was evidently eased by the reassurance that it was solely a joke.

"So why should I believe you, kid? I want evidence before everything gets all sisterly."

"What evidence do you want? Photographic? Personal details? What exactly?" she questioned with a completely straight face before pulling her phone out to hold, which was the only visible item that she had brought with her for the visit.

I shrugged and she turned her attention to the phone, unlocking and scrolling through to a photo which she held up in my direction.

"Does she look familiar? That was me and mum about six months ago" she commented as she passed me the phone.

There was two immediate things that I noticed about the digital photo as soon as I saw it. Firstly, it was undoubtedly the mother that I had known and loved for some of the first years of my life until she had dumped me and dad, except for the fact that she was nothing like the beautiful angelic woman that I had mentally pictured through all the years that I hadn't seen her. The fifteen or sixteen years hadn't done anything for her appearance. Her face was bloated, her skin sagged, she had more crow's feet than a family of crows and her pasty skin that I had always envisioned as aglow had an awful light yellow tinge to it. I knew well enough what that was all indicators of.

The second unusual and notable point about the photograph was how detached the two looked. They had obviously posed for a photo that someone else had taken, but there wasn't the same smile or glow that you would see in the majority of mother/daughter photographs that were renowned for capturing the intimacy of such a close family tie and bond. The closest thing about them was the fact that their heads were shifted slightly to meet in the middle of a gap for the sake of their full heads being captured in the photo.

A few seconds after my thoughts on the photograph had been mentally summarized, she pulled her phone back and placed the object back in her lap. "So, want more evidence than that? Ask me anything."

"Why are you here? Why did we never know about you?"

"I just want to know you Rikki.. And maybe someday, have some sort of dysfunctional relationship, friendship, whatever, with you. My entire life I've been compared to you – told how I was nothing compared to the daughter _you_ were to mum. I'd never met you, but I hated you for most of my life. That wasuntil I found out all that about dad… How mum had left _you_. I didn't know what to believe anymore so I just wanted to meet you and start making own decisions and making my own life."

Good gosh that was deep. All these lies, what we've been told, what we've trusted, I just didn't know anymore. My head spun.

"Does mum know that you're here or not?"

She shook her head definitively. "No. I snuck out, but I don't think that she would even really care, either way… Or notice, before the end of the week anyway."

I opened my mouth to reply but was interrupted by the sense of vibration from my pocket along with the ringtone that I recognized. "Hold on. Talk about that in a sec."

I walked away and turned away from everyone to stand in the corner for some vague sense of privacy as I answered the terrible phonecall that I wish I had never received.

"Rikki?" A hysterical Cleo screeched. "Rikki, I need you! I'm at the hospital – Something's happened to Lewis! He isn't moving!"

* * *

><p><strong>So now we have all met Miss Tam... And in typical Far From Perfection fashion, she is holding back way more secrets than what she is letting on. I am certainly going to have a ball writing and forming her character… Just you wait guys! Now, I know that the whole 'Rikki having a sister thing' has been done to death on the H2o FanFiction world, but stick with it! I'm going to make sure that my little Miss Tam is worth the cliche. <strong>

**Also, any predictions as to what's wrong with Lewis?! Goodness gracious, I'm going to die writing the next chapter! Facing your fears is beyond exhausting! **

**Don't forget to review ;)**

**Next chapter: Everyone rallies together to support Cleo, but at the hospital, each girl finds themselves personally being haunted.**


	17. Breathe

**Woo! Another chapter guys! Before school goes back in Australia in a few weeks time, I really want to get this story at least up to chapter 20, so that's my personal little goal. **

**Anyway, thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter and who tried to guess what was wrong with Lewis. I certainly wouldn't have been able to guess it if I was in your shoes! **

**Enjoy this chapter everyone, and Zikki fans, if you squint really hard and tilt your head to the side, there's a bit of a Zikki moment in this chapter. **

**Enjoy & review. :) **

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><p><strong>Chapter 17 – Breathe<strong>

_Zane's POV_

Arriving at the city's central hospital, Rikki was in the lead as Will and I trailed behind her path that led us to the receptionist bay nearest to the main entry doors.

"Hi. What ward is Lewis McCartney in?" she asked politely, but I noted a rare occurrence for Rikki. There was the sound of fear prevalent in her voice. The raw emotion that I knew for a fact she would do anything to conceal steadied as she spelt out his name for the receptionist, awaiting an answer as Will and I lingered behind uncomfortably.

"He's just been admitted to the emergency ward recently. That's level 4 and if you reach the nurses on that level, they'll be able to give you more information" she replied in an extremely formal and fake manner. Zilch emotion, possibly due to repeated recitation of what we had been told… It was ironic for a place that created such strong emotion's from the birth of new life, to the end of that of a loved one's.

I was lost in my own thoughts until I looked up and took note that Rikki was speeding away ahead of me, as Will followed close behind her, appearing equally as anxious as Rikki looked.

Finding the nearest elevator, the three of us parked our bodies in it and subconsciously positioned ourselves closely, until I noticed that apparent fact. After pushing the button that indicated level four, Rikki looked straight ahead, Will looked down at his Havaiana clad feet and I looked between them uncomfortably. None of us had said anything to each since our attempts to rationalize and provide reassuring possibilities as to an explanation for Lewis, one that was in conjunction with what Cleo had said about the fact that he was not moving.

Will of course opted for a marine option, suggesting the fact that there may have been an accident of some sort happen at work, especially considering the dangerous marine life with a high toxicity level that Lewis dealt with as a part of his job. I noted the fact that Cleo has always been an exaggerator for the entire time that I've known her and just because she had said he "wasn't moving" didn't mean that he was completely still. He could've broken a foot for all we know… Or even just a toe! Rikki stayed quiet for a while after Will and I had offered our suggestions, but when she did speak, she just kept her comments surprisingly positive for her. It was something along the lines of how fit and healthy he was and how people like him don't get badly sick for no reason, implying the fact that he would be perfectly fine, regardless of the fine details behind his unknown prognosis.

Eventually, the lift stopped the vertical incline that brought tingles to my stomach. Great. 4 storey's high too, just to add to this fantastic situation...

The elevator dinged and the huge stainless steel doors opened out to the ER ward, delivering us to our destination. Rikki once again raced off ahead of us, assumedly in search of the next nurse's bay on this treasure hunt that was missing any form of pleasure at the other end. However, before the sighting which would have brought us to our new clue, we skipped ahead like in Snakes and Ladders upon seeing Cleo, along with around half a dozen other people.

If I thought that Rikki had been walking at a fast pace _before_ this point, then my perception of speed was proven completely wrong as she raced over to Cleo down the hall.

As Will and I too sped up and came closer, I noticed Cleo's dad, step-mum and little sister standing alongside her, in addition to another middle aged couple who stood near a younger blonde male who would've been a few years older than me. Those three were undoubtedly representatives of Lewis' family. More Lewis' in the world. The resemblance was uncanny.

Despite our considerably faster pace, Will and I who were now walking side-by-side slowed as we reached the herd of people, standing back behind Rikki as Cleo let go of herself in the way that her arms had been wrapped around her own shoulders as she sat there cradling herself and accepted Rikki's arms that had opened up to her.

"He'll be okay, Cleo" I could hear Rikki say in reassurance to her friend as I watched her holding the hysterical Cleo whose tears had resumed a steady flow of drowning her cheeks.

I hated blubbery sad scenarios like this, it was a typical unemotional guy thing, but this time I felt a tinge of guilt as I watched Cleo crying uncontrollably in Rikki's arms. I knew that Cleo was an easy target… Someone squashed a spider in class when we were 10 – she was an automatic mess and burst into tears. Admittedly, I had always gotten a bit of a kick from her soft-heart that I had deemed 'hilarious', but this time it wasn't so funny… Her tears weren't having the normal effect of satisfaction on me that they had had. In fact, it was tragic.

I tuned into listening to the girl's as Rikki slowly led Cleo back over to the plastic hospital chairs with her family watching over the two girl's as intensely and closely as a hawk.

"What happened to him, Cleo?" Rikki asked gently and softly, keeping an arm around her back which was obviously acting as a comfort to the distraught woman, considering that she hadn't resumed her position of hugging herself again.

"H-He…" she attempted to say with a shaky voice that threatened the onset of easily triggered tears at any point. "He was sleeping i-in r-real-really late today and I-I tried to w-wake him a-and" she managed to say before her head crashed down into her lap again with the wailing of fresh tears.

Will and I watched helplessly as Rikki rubbed her back as an attempt of comforting her, while Cleo's dad hugged her, ensuring that she was okay with Sam watching on somberly and helplessly like Will and myself.

She calmed her breathing down once again, with tears still trickling steadily down her cheek. "I tried to wake him, then his eyes were open but h-he just wasn't m-moving!" she cried out louder as she reached the end of her sentence and burst out crying once again. "I thought he was playing some sort of trick!"

Again, the waterworks flood gates exploded open again as Cleo lost control of herself through the tears and Rikki attempted to comfort her once again which was becoming a bit of a pattern since we had arrived.

"Have the doctors said anything?" Rikki questioned in a soft whisper to Cleo that was still audible to Will and myself who were a few seats away and watching the interactions between the two for the entire time.

She shook her head and made a visible effort to calm her breathing down. "No. They've just said that they're still doing tests. I'm scared it's something really bad Rikki" Cleo confessed as she trembled softly.

"It won't be, Cleo. He's young, he's fit and he's healthy… Well he's young and healthy. He'll be fine!"

We watched as her breathing shook again and she took another raspy breath. The signs that she was going to have another meltdown and lose it again were becoming evident, until "Cleo!" was called out down the hall, distracting Cleo skillfully, but along with nearly everyone else who _wasn't_ named 'Cleo' just due to the volume of the call.

A blonde shot past Will and myself until she slowed, and after watching the taller, older and more masculine blonde trailing slower behind her, I realized that it was Bella who rushed over to the brunette that had effortlessly held everyone's attention today, due to circumstance.

Bella hugged Cleo briefly, before pulling away just as Cleo had began to support herself on her friend. "How are you doing? Have you heard anything? Sorry – I came as quickly as I could."

"No Bella" Cleo croaked simply and cryptically, not making it clear to Bella as to which question she was responding to, as well as ignoring her last statement.

From the angle I was sitting, I could see her puzzled expression that only lasted a split second before being overridden with concern for her friend as she took Cleo's hand that was clutching onto her arm and giving it a reassuring squeeze. "Lewis is going to be fine."

Poor Cleo once again broke down once again for the umpteenth time solely since Rikki, Will and myself had arrived…

* * *

><p>Shortly after Cleo had been calmed down and reassured once again that would just last for the time being until she was triggered off and started crying again, I became aware of another presence, technically two actually, that were sitting three seats away from me and on the other side of the spare seat next to Will that was just before a table that ended the row of guest seats. I had seen the guy walking in with Bella but had completely forgotten about him since, classing him as low importance in comparison to the other's in this situation, like Cleo. That was until Bella's boyfriend started to make a scene of himself too...<p>

For the next few minutes that followed, I could hear and looked over to watch him fidgeting uncomfortably in his seat with the sleeping baby that he was carrying's arms slung around his neck, while Will who was nearest to him sat ignorantly on his phone, with Rikki and Bella occupied by Cleo and the families of the young couple were conversing worriedly amongst themselves on the other side of the hallway.

The next moment, he was standing up and had begun pacing back and forth, taking steps closer to the exit of the elevator with each lap that he made. He looked uncomfortable and stressed as he rubbed his hands through his hair, but yet still managed to carry the toddler comfortably in his arms with an incredible balance and lack of shifting that could have lead to waking. It was almost as if he was performing the latter action subconsciously. The problem with the display was that I couldn't distinguish whether he looked more like a child that couldn't sit still, or a skittish horse.

As if the pacing and actions that displayed his uncomfortable state wasn't attention-seeking enough, next thing he was quietly muttering to himself "hate hospitals", "I hate hospitals" repeatedly. This, along with Cleo's breakdown's created quite the scene together in the hallway until Bella gave Cleo yet another hug of reassurance and left Rikki with Cleo as she walked over to Daniel, pressing a hand on the top of his shoulder and gently leading him backwards to the seats again.

She looked up ahead of herself momentarily to the others that were here for Lewis too before, taking the only remaining seat, in-between her boyfriend and Will, and faced Daniel only allowing her back to face the direction of Will and myself.

"Calm down, Dan, just breathe babe" she whispered, rubbing his shoulder and back soothingly for a few minutes that evidently didn't lead to any change or positive results. "Here, I'll take her, that'll loosen your chest. Focus on taking deep breaths" she added, taking the sleeping baby from his arms as she held that with one arm and comforted him with the other.

Cleo and Daniel were on opposite sides of the hallway and were now taking turns with letting their fears take over the control of themselves.

Rikki was knelt down in front of Cleo now, verbally attempting to comfort and calm her with her dad and Sam taking over from the physical warmth and comfort. Meanwhile next to Will and two seats away from me, Bella was trying to reassure Daniel verbally and calm him in a similar physical manner as Cleo's families was doing for her. Cleo, with good reason, definitely won the award for who was making a greater scene and was crying louder in comparison to Daniel's raspy breathing and repeated whispers that revealed the increasingly obvious fact of how much he hates hospitals.

Thankfully, a nurse who approached Cleo and interrupted the separately unsettled two, although whether it would have a greater positive or negative impact from what she had to say was yet to be revealed.

"Are you here for Lewis McCartney?" she questioned, standing approximately in the middle of the hallway and between the two somewhat separated groups of friends and family that were united for the same reason.

Cleo's tears faded almost immediately as she swiped her face with her sleeve and nodded to the nurse who made the correct assumption upon seeing the dozen of head's nod and continued to speak.

"The doctor is still with him and unfortunately hasn't been able to pinpoint the cause. He's been examined for a bite and has been tested for high toxicity levels that could lead to temporary or long-term paralysis like this but all the results have returned normal and inconclusive. We are still waiting for the results and X-Rays to return from pathology regarding a few other tests, but the good news is that all of his vital organs appear to be working normally and healthily. We'll let you know when we know anything further" the nurse revealed to the group of us who didn't say a peep, even Daniel and Cleo were quiet, as we listened to the current diagnosis and update before she left us all to react and turned around, walking off in the direction that she had come from.

"See Cleo" Rikki said, being the first of the group to speak, before Lewis' family spoke to each other in a manner that displayed their hesitance to be completely positive or completely negative from the news. "That's good news. They haven't worked it out yet, but he's doing okay!"

"Except, are you forgetting the fact that he can't move?!" Cleo replied in what was one of the firmest tones that I had ever heard from her before.

Rikki sighed, her only attempt at being positive, evidently diminishing as she backed away from her friend and came closer to the five of us that occupied this section of seating.

She quietly stood against the wall next to Dan at the end of the row of seats, and every now and then I would shoot a glance in her direction. I noticed the signs of tightness and difficulty breathing that I had become just short of a professional with as everyone seemed to be falling apart today and within moments after this observation, I watched Rikki quietly hurry off around the corner away from everyone. This action was something that I, like everyone else that was here, wouldn't have been aware of considering the quietness and lack of disruption that Rikki managed to achieve her getaway with… Only if I hadn't of been watching her, of course.

Instead, I increasingly less subtly raced off in the same direction of her, stopping almost instantly as I turned the corner and saw her backed against the wall of the following corridor, taking visibly short and panicked breaths of alarming distress.

She was looking ahead, clutching the wall behind her feebly with her open palms and didn't notice me until I startled her, making her jump from my touch as I comfortingly and gently clutched her arm. "Rikki? What's up? Are you okay?"

I kept my grip on her as she took a step away from the wall that she was pressed up against from behind and she covered her mouth with the back of her hand, almost as though _that_ was her attempt to hide the spectacle of concern from me that her panicked breathing that initiating.

"Go, Zane!" she managed to choke out eventually, in between breaths that enabled her to maintain her strong and insistent voice with me in response.

Despite the fact that I had refused her command, she didn't bite back immediately. Instead, the blonde took a few moments to steady her breathing and collect herself from the mess that she was trying her hardest to disguise in her emotionally weak state.

"Come on, Rikki. Talk to me..." I pleaded in a soft tone, despite the risk of being yelled at and stormed away from knowing her.

"Lewis… Dad..." she said in connection, in a manner that initially made the connected words sound like she was referring to the impossibility of Lewis being her father, but I knew what the two words meant. "I can't lose them both!"

"Did you listen to yourself when you were talking to Cleo?! You reminded her how healthy and young he is. He's going to be fine" I tried to reason with her in reassurance, unknowingly setting myself up for a fall.

She shook her head, exhaling briefly before turning her head to look me straight in the eye. "And did _you_ hear _Cleo_?! They still don't what's wrong and he's basically paralyzed!"

"There's got to be an explanation, Rikki. Don't worry until you've got something that's worth worrying about, deal?"

She looked at me with a look that was somewhere between an angry rage and shock. "Are you serious, Bennett?! You think I don't have something that's worth worrying about already?!" she said starting to hammer me verbally in an angry manner, before taking a breath and slowing her speech to a completely different manner as her lip helplessly started to quiver, something that she couldn't hide despite her effort at appearing strong. "All of this with Lewis is just like everything with my dad… The same hospital that he was taken to after the heart attack… The same hospital with the morgue that I had to identify his body at… And the worst part is, the last time I saw Cleo and Lewis, I was having one of our pointless arguments with Lewis and I don't even know if we resolved it… Like dad – our last fight was unresolved when he died."

I was shocked. On the spot, I struggled to remember another time like this one and I honestly could never remember Rikki being this truthful and revealing to me... Especially without being forced to like she had been when she just explained her last big secret to me of being a mermaid – after the discovery that I had forced.

It was daunting actually. She's been so honest, but I didn't know what to say or do. I didn't want her regret telling me all that by stuffing up what I did next, but I just did not know what to do next. A hug or some sort of embrace might be too forceful and she'd probably think that I was just being a douche about the whole thing and was only interested in making a move. Then again, that saying of how 'actions speak louder than words' was blaring and was on repeat in my brain, so I was second-guessing myself about offering physical comfort that I personally would have preferred. People just don't blurt emotional stuff like that out to me, ever. I was completely lost on what to do next.

"Lewis isn't your dad, Rikki" I eventually managed to decide on saying aloud to her, moving my hand up to the top of her back and rubbing it soothingly, believing that it was the best option and most comforting out of the others that I had considered.

"I know that, Zane!" she replied bitterly with a sniffle, before reacting in a way that I wasn't expecting, after the way she had just spoken. She turned into my arms that were already connected from me touching her back, giving me a brief hug before turning out and moving away from the wall and starting to walk back in the direction of where she had initially fled from. "But thank you. I needed that."

* * *

><p>After Rikki and I had returned to the group, Rikki suggested to Cleo, that we take her to the hospital cafeteria and get a drink, or food if she was hungry considering it was nearing tea time, and just as an attempt to get Cleo and everyone else's mind off of awaiting news.<p>

Cleo and Lewis' families had decided to stay around and wait, thinking that it would be better in case they received more news during that time and also believing that Cleo may be more distracted and relaxed if she just went with her friends. Consequently, Cleo agreed to come along with six of us being myself, Will, Rikki, Bella, Daniel and their kid.

Arriving at the cafeteria was somewhat like a ghost town. Plenty of food, but no-one else except us in sight. Subconsciously, we all shifted to two tables that were made partnered with four seats as we walked into the area. Cleo followed behind Bella and took a seat with her family, while the three of us who lived together sat together on the table next to the one that they had occupied first.

"Hey Cleo, I forgot to tell you something. This is sure to distract you!" Rikki said to her friend, leaning across in Cleo's direction to feel more a part of their table as she spoke. "Got a visitor earlier and apparently, according to her, we're sisters."

Rikki received barely a nod of acknowledgement from Cleo who was just staring straight ahead, looking at absolutely nothing. Instead of Rikki's attempt to distract Cleo, she had interested Bella who too was only hearing the first of Rikki's news.

"What? You have a sister?! How old is she? What's her name?" Bella asked Rikki with her expression revealing a combination of interest and shock.

"Yeah apparently so… I think that Mum just decided to keep her from me and dad for her entire life so far. Her name's Tam and I didn't ask, but I think she's about 15."

"Looks completely like Rikki" Will added to Rikki's explanation, getting a glare of daggers as Rikki looked back at the two of us. "Yeah right, Will! We look _nothing_ alike!"

He shrugged and Rikki stayed focused on us until he replied. "Blonde hair… Same eyes… Similar mouth… Family resemblance."

"Let's just ignore him" Rikki responded to Bella instead of acknowledging Will. "

"Sure, I can be pretty good at that" Bella bit back, brushing off the comment with a shrug, before adding to her comment that was evidently aimed at Will after her looks in his oblivious direction. "But then again, I'm not only one that is talented at it... Anyway, explain more about this sister Rikki!"

"I don't know what else there is to say about her. I still barely know her and basically all I've gathered of my own initiative since her arrival is that she doesn't seem to have the best relationship with our mum, and speaking of, I'm thinking that my mother is a possible alcoholic who sounds and looks nothing like what she used to before she left us!"

I was looking to and from the two girl's that were providing the current and only conversation for the time being, watching each as they spoke. I had just watched Rikki who was getting more and more into what she was saying and explaining, evidently displaying one of her recognizable angry faces.

"Oh gosh, Rikki, that's a lot to take in. What are you doing about her? Are you going to meet up regularly or something like that?"

"Blame Rikki's mum. It's her fault for keeping her family from knowing each other" Will added to Bella's comment, supposedly directing it as Bella's sympathy of Rikki.

Rikki ignored Will with an eye rolland shrugged at Bella with an eye roll, making her point of how little she cared even without speaking a word. "I really don't know… All I keep thinking about with all of this is how annoyed I am at my mum. I'm sure that things would've been different, it would've been better if me and dad had known all along."

Instead of Bella responding as the two had set a subconscious pattern of talking and replying to each other, it was Daniel who unexpectedly spoke up this time after having been quiet for the majority of the rest of the conversation. "Well I'm sure that your mum had her reasons for not saying anything."

"Shut up! You know nothing about this and you don't know what you're talking about" was Will's quick and annoyed response as he too joined the conversation again, assumedly for the purpose of helping Rikki.

"Stop defending her Daniel! Who's side are you?!" Rikki questioned angrily and boldly as Bella attempted to defuse the argument that was in the beginning of starting to blow out of control by whispering to, and pushing Daniel away slightly.

"Come on guys… Fighting's the last thing we need right now" Bella whispered, looking over towards Cleo's direction assumedly to make sure that the aggression wasn't alarming her in her obviously fragile state.

I looked over to Rikki again as she sighed and rubbed her face with her hand before looking over to Will and myself. "Yeah, she's right. Maybe it's best if you guys leave. Is it alright if you guys give me a lift a home, Bella?"

Bella replied affirmatively which I was only half-listening to, while Will and I looked at each other, before he grazed my shoulder with his hand and gestured for the way that led off towards the elevator that we had came from. "Alright… Bye. All the best Cleo" Will said awkwardly, not even waiting for a reply before he left from the group.

I said a similar variation of Will's goodbye before walking off behind him too, leaving the five together as Rikki joined the other's circle as we left.

* * *

><p>The entire drive back to our house, Will and I talked about the hospital trip, ranging from guesses about what was wrong with Lewis, to Will informing me how awkward it had been with Bella, especially while I had gone after Rikki and then finally to me explaining about how Rikki had had her little meltdown in the hospital too.<p>

Getting home, the first thing that I noticed was a blonde who was sitting in the dark but under the light of the porch out the front of our house with headphones in and her head down, looking at her lap. If it had of been just _any_ fifteen year old sitting there like Tam was, I would've been a lot more alarmed than what I was. Although her presence was unexpected since she hadn't mentioned that she was going to stay and wait for us to get home and had only been shooed out of the house quickly as we all prepared to rush off to the hospital, she wasn't _not_ welcome here.

I parked the car and the two of us got out of the car. "Hey kiddo" I yelled at the girl who looked up momentarily, in confusion, possibly just checking whether she had heard something overtop whatever she was listening to or not. She plucked her earphones out of her ear and put the phone in her pocket all in one swift movement before standing up as we neared her.

"Sorry, didn't know that you were waiting for Rikki. It's getting late – wouldn't your mum be getting worried where you are?"

She shook her head and I unlocked the front door, gesturing for Tam to walk in before me as Will followed behind us, in a bad mood. "I doubt it. Why would she start worrying now?"

"Oh, okay… Well you're welcome to stay here until Rikki returns" I replied as we walked through to the lounge room. Still in his bad mood, Will crashed down on one lounge, leaving Tam and I to sit on the remaining one together.

A silence filled the room due to Will being in his mood and Tam still being a relative stranger to us with very little that we knew about each other and even less that we knew that we had in common. Eventually though, it was Tam who broke the silence.

"So tell me about yourselves you two. Start with your relationship status… Single? Dating? Married?" she asked in a very forward manner. Boy, she had already proven herself to be more outgoing than Rikki.

"Somewhere between single and dating… It's complicated" Will grumbled to himself, but being polite enough to answer Tam's question before silencing himself once again.

I smirked, leaning over to the much smaller blonde and lowered my voice before informing her of what Will had said really translated to: "What he _really_ means is that he's wormed himself into a relationship with someone he doesn't really like."

"Ohhh… Okay…" Tam nodded with a very short and light laugh in her voice before nodding at me knowingly. "I see… What about you? Zane wasn't it?"

"I'm as single as the day I was born!" I replied, honestly, even if I was hiding the fact that it wasn't a status that I desired, especially with our living situation.

Tam laughed at my comment, distracting me from my thoughts again. She was chirpier than Rikki too. "Ah and now we have found similarity number one…"

I smiled at her response and was about to speak in return before I was interrupted by my phone going off and blaring within my pocket. It was Rikki. I apologized aloud, mostly to Tam as opposed to Will before answering the call. Before I could get a word in, Rikki cut straight to the point of her phone call.

"The doctor just came out. Lewis has been diagnosed with Guillain-Barré Syndrome."

* * *

><p><strong>O.M.G - That chapter ACTUALLY ended. Writing it, I seriously felt like this chapter was turning 'Far From Perfection' into 'The Never Ending Story'! It felt like it took forever to write... It's crazy. The last chapter was extra short and this is extra, extra long so it's all somewhat balancing out now.<strong>

**Anyway, about the chapter... I really wanted to face the health issue from more factual observations and a less empathetic angle (A.K.A. Zane), but I attempted to show how Lewis being sick could also incorporate issues and reminders for the others too so I hope that I executed that well enough. Also, I initially was only going to reveal what was wrong with Lewis in the next chapter, but I decided to put you out of your misery and end the chapter with that. However, since G.B.S is a very rare condition, I'm sure that not many of you have heard about it, and although I didn't develop on what it is in this chapter, I'm going to do it from Cleo's perspective in the next chapter as she discovers more about G.B.S. and what it means for her and Lewis's future, so you don't need to know about it to read it. **

**So, thoughts on the chapter? Has anyone ever known someone who has had G.B.S? And guesses why was Daniel acting so skittishly in the hospital? Anything else? Let me know!**

**On a sadder note, how awful have all these bushfires around Australia been?! I think that at one point, there was 150 different one's going in N.S.W alone! Then there's the other big ones in Tassie (since when does Tasmania have bushfires btw) and Vic too. Thankfully they haven't been anywhere near as fatal as Black Saturday a few years ago and I don't think that there's been any fatalities. Thankfully, it's been fine where I live, but with heatwaves in Aus, it's just expected :( My greatest fear is undoubtedly bushfires!**


	18. The Things We Do For Love

**So I really wanted to update once more before I return to the nitty gritty of school for the last time ever. Technically my first day was today, but we spent the entire day doing an orientation at the Uni so I really only start tomorrow. Today the scary thing is that we got told that we only have 205 days left of high school. Ever! Insert heart attack here. **

**How flipping good was the return of Packed to the Rafters tonight too people (who watch it)?! How much raw emotion could you squeeze in there?! I've loved the return of that and Home & Away - so proud of how far my two H2o boys have come!**

**Anyway, can I just say also how crazy the weather has been?! I was wearing my JACKET today in the middle of summer! On my last updates I've been grumbling about the heat and mentioned the bushfires in Aus, but now it's flooding in Queensland?! Crazy!**

**Enjoy the chapter everyone! Thanks for all of your reviews on the last chapter. They all meant oh-so much to me :) **

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 18 – The Things We Do For Love<strong>

_Cleo's POV_

Guillain-Barré Syndrome?

"W-what does that mean? What is that?" I asked feeling a mixture of relief that they had found an answer about what was wrong with Lewis, before I was flooded with uncertainty at not knowing whether it was good news or bad news, much less _what_ it actually was. Maybe no news had been better.

Before the nurse could reply, something that I couldn't miss considering that I was watching her intently for the answers that I was dying to know in the hope of good news; I was wrapped up in my dad's arms being gently forced into him as a comfort.

"Guillain-Barré Syndrome is an autoimmune disorder that incorrectly attacks the nervous system" she began to explain in the medical babble as I felt the secondary sensation of dad rubbing circles on my back with the palm of his hand.

"It is an infection that develops and passes on within four weeks. A segment of the infection includes a gradual, but usually temporary paralysis that builds up over the four weeks. At this stage for Lewis, we believe that the physical paralysis has reached its peak and we have taken precautionary action to ensure that all of his vital organs are functioning normally which is good news, considering that that is one of the primary dangers of Guillain-Barré."

Although I could see that the nurse's mouth was moving, I was only taking in certain words as the remainder passed straight through me with no recognition. Right in this moment, I didn't care what he had, what was causing it, why he had it, there was a time for all of that, but I only wanted to know was one thing.

"Is he going to be okay?" I abruptly questioned, not even feeling any substantial care about the fact that I had cut the nurse off mid-explanation.

She took a breath, looked down at her clipped board that was clutched in her arms and rested on her hip. "The odds are _definitely_ in his favour. Despite the paralysis, we expect that he will be able to make a full recovery in due time."

_Odds_. Once again, my brain didn't even register the answer despite my desperation and essential want to know it. The words echoed and felt as though they floated through a tunnel that led to the scene that was helplessly playing on my mind, all from the trigger of one word…

**~ Fifteen Years Ago ~**

"_I just can't get it, Lewis!" seven year old me announced with a huff as I slipped back in my seat with crossed arms. _

_Ever so patient Lewis immediately put down his triangle tipped pencil and shuffled the sheet of paper that my seven year old brain was completely lost on to the edge of my table. His next movement was taking a handful of coloured pencils out of his blue pencil case, a move that instantly triggered the worst for me. _

"_No Lewis! Not the pencils again!" _

_Before now, he had spent the last five minutes or so trying to educate me to differentiate my odd and even numbers through my pencils by separating one, three and five pencils that were 'the odd ones out' and the other two and four pencils that were 'even'. That visual concept hadn't helped at all. _

_He let out a small sigh as he put the pencils back and his face saddened, before his eyes lit up again, an expression that I knew ever so well when he would get any smart ideas of his. _

"_Okay Cleo! One of your Barbie's is odd because she's lonely, okay?" he started to say, looking over to me to ensure that I understood what he meant before he continued. "Then Barbie marries Ken, so they're even! If Ken and Barbie had one baby, then there would be three, so that's odd again. But if Barbie's friend Midge stopped being odd and married Alan to be even and they had two babies, twins, there would four and they'd still be even!"_

_I nodded slowly, trying to picture the family scenarios that Lewis was explaining with the goal of more importantly trying to wrap my head around the concept of odds and evens._

… _He spent so much time helping me and going through the odds and evens with rhetorical generations of Barbie families so that I could understand the worksheet that he actually fell behind with his own worksheet…_

_But when it came to the next 'Odds and Evens' worksheet, I got full marks. Admittedly, this was a rarity for me. It was all thanks to Lewis' loving patience and care._

**~ Continuation of Present Day ~**

"Cleo. Cleo?" I suddenly heard as I returned back to reality and felt my dad nudging me gently, looking over to the nurse before placing his hand on my shoulder comfortingly. "I'm not sure if she might be in shock…" he muttered to the nurse who was now focused on me too, before he turned to speak to me once again. "Are you okay, Cleo? You looked like you were out of it for a few minutes there. The nurse was talking to you."

My focus was momentarily caught by my dad as I heard him out, and I apologized to the nurse. I repeated my question that I had asked a few minutes earlier and once again asked whether he would be okay or not. The nurse patiently started explaining it to me and I listened somewhat-attentively before I helplessly zoned out for the second time.

"Well as I said before, his chances of making it through are very high, but it may be six months to two years before he returns to normal again and starts restoring himself to as he was physically before the infection struck -"

I had lost focus once again by the word _normal_; even though the rest of what she had said in an attempt to explain herself a second time had not really registered in my mind either…

_**~ One Year Ago ~ **_

_We were a few months into our short engagement and more importantly, a few months off of reaching our wedding day when Lewis and I were sitting at the dining table of my house with wedding and bridal magazines sprawled out for what seemed to appear to be for as far as you could see. _

_Some weddings were planned and were ruled by the bride exclusively right down to the last detail with everything except saying the second 'I do', but from early on in our then-engagement Lewis and myself had decided that we wanted our big day to be a joint affair and event, to represent the joint union from that day forward. So, long story short, we had planned our wedding almost completely together. _

_The current task that we had been working towards was deciding the destination of our honeymoon. _

"_Swiss Alps?" Lewis had suggested, flicking through the pages of one of the glossy magazines as his thumb stopped on the page that had inspired his suggestion. _

"_Way too expensive. It would be cheaper to live there for six months than go over for a few weeks" I replied, picking up another magazine to mirror his magazine searching. _

_After a while, Lewis added to his last suggestion as he opened to another page. "Hey, it's not such a glamorous option, but if we wanted a snow-theme honeymoon, we could stay around Bright in Victoria and do daytrips up to Mount Buffalo or Mount Beauty and all that. Or even the Snowy Mountains? I've never seen snow." _

_I nodded, considering his suggestion before the blatantly obvious fact hit me like a ton of bricks. "Lewis! That could've been a recipe for disaster! Think about what snow comes from…" _

"_Oh damn!" he cried aloud as he slapped his hand on his forehead. "I can't believe that that flew right over my head! They warn women about 'baby-brain' but I'm thinking cases of 'bride-groom-brain' are just as bad!" _

_I giggled at my fiancé, grasping out for his hand affectionately before letting out a pent up sigh. "If only I were normal and then snowy honeymoons would be possible…"_

"_Hey, don't worry about it, Cleo. Sure, I would love to see snow, but __**anyone**__ can see snow. If we wanted, we could do extensive tropical dives that animal lovers could only dream of. Normal is completely overrated, Cleo… Why would you want to be normal when you can be like __**you**__?"_

_My partial lack of normality meant that Lewis sacrificed his dream honeymoon for me and my safety… _

**~ Present Day ~**

Now Lewis was the one that was helplessly lacking his normality for the time being. That was the sole piece of information that actually registered within my currently short-sighted brain. This was something that my dad evidently noted as he looked between me and the nurse, telling her that she might need to repeat what she had said since I had been mentally-removed from the present once again…

* * *

><p>It had taken three attempts for the nurse to explain everything that she had needed to and by her third time, my brain was able to register almost all of the information about my sick husband.<p>

Now, now I was just trying to wrap my head around the condition of Guillain Barré Syndrome that had been set in front of our lives as an extremely testing obstacle. Not only was the condition and the diagnosis difficult enough to _attempt_ to understand, but the thought of the recovery period completely numbed my mind. Lewis would likely need to learn how to walk again from scratch and require extensive rehabilitation to assist with the functioning of his muscles again.

That could last two years. Two years.

I didn't care how much money or time had to be spent, I would spent our last cents if it meant helping Lewis to recover, but the problem was where this money would even originate from in the first place. At an estimate, we might have enough just to cover the ambulance and hospital bills, but I had no idea how I would fund other necessary health care for him.

I considered the options of bank loans that seemed unlikely given only my part-time income now and the fact that I wasn't even sure if Lewis would want me to do that and whether he would prefer to recover naturally, instead of landing ourselves so much deeper in debt.

Admittedly, the time factor scared me too. I am not Lewis. I have patience yes, but the perseverance and the strength needed to tackle this Guillain Barré Syndrome together? I didn't know if I could be or would be strong enough to do this.

The thought of that, along with the financial stress of health care contributed to increasing the speed of my heart rate before it got too much to bear.

I muttered that I needed air to my family, before running out of the corridor, away from the Intensive Care Ward, down the flights of stairs to the ground floor and out of the hospital entrance. There was a bus depot directly outside the hospital and I stopped, pressing my back against the wall as I tried to control the lethal combination of my raspy breathing and rough tears that represented my internal grief.

Not long after I had settled against the brick wall, but after receiving negative and confused looks from about three passer-bys, dad had reached and found me after I hadn't even noticed him following me from behind out of the hospital. I hadn't even noticed that he'd found me and was outside with me until he wordlessly pulled me into a hug and placed his hand on the back of my head that collapsed into the crook of his shoulder and neck just from the slight pressure.

For a long time, neither of us said a word. I cried my heart out and dad held me. I think it was that paternal instinct that knew that there was nothing that he could say in that very moment that would help me feel any better. And that was how we stayed for a long, long time until I'd finally recovered from the waterworks stage of my grief.

"I-I love Lewis, dad" I started to say, sniffling and trying to stop my tears from taking over once again before continuing to explain myself. "But I'm not going to be able to help him! I'm not strong enough to get through this, dad! I can't do it, not without him!"

He comforted me, continuing his soothing embraces as he tried to console me. "I wish that I could fix this for you, sweetheart, I really would do anything to make this better for you and to make this go away, but I just _can't_. Despite all of that, Cleo, what I do know is that you _can_ do this. You're strong enough to get through this. I know it. "

"No I can't dad!" I sobbed relentlessly and not giving into his comforting reason. "Lewis did everything for me in the past… He was the reason that I could get through all of the hard things and the challenges in my life in the past, but I'm scared that I won't be able to do the same for him now."

"You're underestimating yourself, Cleo... _Why_ do you think that Lewis was able to help you so many times before? It's because he loves you. And now _you_ have the chance to show him that you love him and that you appreciate all the times that he has helped you and been there for you."

I sighed, my voice trembling as I inhaled the fresh air into my lungs.

The reminders from my dad about our love triggered the reminder of earlier today when I had awoken to find my husband in the condition that he was. We hadn't even resolved our argument from the night before when I'd accidentally ruined his romantic dinner plans.

**~ Earlier That Day ~ **

_When I woke up, I could sense the warm presence of the male next to me in bed. My first thought was how I must have woken up a little earlier than what I needed to considering that Lewis was always well and truly out of bed and nearly ready for work by the time that I would wake up. _

_Turning onto my side, I looked at the yellow digits on my alarm clock. 6:45 AM. _

_I quickly turned around again, sitting up as I nudged Lewis to try and wake him. Considering his head was facing out of bed and he was on his side, I could kiss his exposed cheek and neck in my attempt to wake him, trying to notify him that he was 'running late' and 'must have overslept' in the hopes of waking him up prompter. _

_No response. I kept nudging and shaking him, tapping on his cheek for a few minutes longer until the slight inkling of fear was beginning to surface within me. _

_With the idea of nudging him in his chest and more sensitive stomach, I pulled him over from how he was laying on his side so that he was laying flat on his back. That was when my stomach dropped and I sprung away from his unconscious body in shock, letting out a blood-curdling scream. _

_It was the sort of scene that you would see in a horror movie or in a graphically gory scene of a drama. The sort of thing you would expect on Sea Patrol during a body recovery. Overturning a body and being presented with something that you were not expecting or wanting to see. _

_Lewis' eyes were wide open, still moving slightly, despite the rest of his body being frozen. _

_There was this one moment that made my stomach plunge even more in grief. His eyes were soft and pleading, opened up and looking straight at me. I could see the desperation in eyes that he was trying to convey hopelessly as a message about the rest of his body. His eyes and a slight twitch on his face were the only parts of him that moved even despite the fact that I continued shaking and rocking his body desperately with my hands, hoping that passing movement onto someone else was like sharing oxygen with someone. It wasn't. _

_It was my continued screaming and squealing of Lewis' name that must have rung throughout the house which lead my dad, Sam and Kim to come pelting full speed into my room to see for themselves what was wrong. _

_Sam was the first by my side, clutching my shaking body as I focused solely on Lewis. _

"_What's wrong Cleo?!" she asked quickly and I assumed she obviously didn't have the same view of Lewis that I had from next to him._

"_C-CALL TRIPLE ZERO! LEWIS ISN'T M-MOVING!"_

**~ Present Day ~ **

A shiver quickly worked its way up my spine as the memory ended, reminding me of one of the worst moments of my life. Reminding me even more so, that was the moment that my life changed forever.

Being thousands of kilometers away from each other, hiding and living with a mythical secret and the ploys of his malicious girlfriend to keep us apart hadn't been able to pull us apart in the past. I wondered whether I had worked up a bit of a invincible attitude towards our relationship, figuring that nothing and no-one had been able to split us up before, so why would there be any reason to in the future?

My problem was that I was blind sighted with negativity, the thought that Lewis may not ever fully recover and the assumption that I wasn't strong enough to do this without him that I didn't focus on _what_ had gotten us through everything else that life, inevitable and of human-cause, had thrown at us in the past.

Our love.

But would that be enough to help us this time though?

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><p><strong>Thoughts on that chap? Considering GBS would be such a gut-wrenching thing, I tried to lighten it from such a strongly depressive mood with the flashbacks. I hope that you could keep track of the time between everything and that you didn't get lost in past and present day!<strong>

**What does everyone think about Cleo & Lewis anyway? Will he ever recover completely and will she be strong enough to help him and stay by his side? It's going to be a long journey for them and quite a character-building experience for Cleo.**

**Next chapter - Events and guilt cause Bella to come clean about everything. Upon explaining everything about herself, Daniel and Allie, what secrets will be discovered that are being hidden between the three of them, what will the response be and what does her confession mean for the future? **

**Make sure you review! It'll make my first official day back at school a whole heap better! ;)**


	19. The Ties That Bind: Part 1

**So, this part one... Yes. First time that I've done a part one/part two for this story. The problem was that I KNEW ever since I started planning, that this would be the big explanation-y chapter of this storyline that not only needed excessive planning done but also a lot of explaining. You have no idea how many shifts at work I spent trying to nut this out and try to figure out the backstory! A long, LONG time. For example, when I plan chapters, I do bullet points of what I want to cover and generally I form a chapter from about 6-8 bullet points. This chapter had TWENTY! Then there's my talking problem. I'm a talker, always have been, so keeping things concise is virtually impossible for me! So, long story short is: huge long chapter, good spot to break it into two, two chapters instead of one!**

**Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter, don't forget to review and read the A/N at the end of the chapter for a little surprise from me as a thank you... Enjoy! **

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><p><strong>Chapter 19 – The Ties That Bind Part 1<strong>

_Bella's POV_

I needed advice. Desperately, and urgently.

I let out another heavy sigh of the guilt that was beginning to consume me as I adjusted my position, resting my head in the palms of my hands with my elbows leaning on the safety barrier for the little occupant of the wooden cot. The problem was that as I looked down, hoping to find or figure out some sort of solution, I was forced to watch the sleeping toddler and acknowledge who the other half of her came from… That was my problem.

Truth be told, the guilt that I had managed to dodge for a long time had been catching up to me since the day that the newspaper article that led myself and everybody else to believe that Will had died. It all started in those moments when I realized that Allie and Will may have never met properly or known each other in spite of and out of spite for our former relationship. That was what had initially gotten me thinking that it wasn't fair for _her_, because of _us_.

Then, at the hospital a few days ago my unease was accentuated by Will's comments and disapproval of the decision that Rikki's mum made when Rikki was talking about her sister that she had never known… I hated to admit it, but that was more or less our situation, just with many years less damage.

Before now, I had always managed to excuse that guilt and blame _him_. I figured that it was Will's own fault that he didn't know we had Allie, considering that every single attempt that I made to tell him about her after the break up, he had either rejected or ignored.

You wouldn't be able to tell it from the outside, but there was a battle between feelings, morals, memories and fears within me. Part of me wanted to tell him, while the other part of me reminded myself _why_ he hadn't known that I was pregnant in the first place. In addition to that, there were the rights that Will had and my acknowledgment that he needed to know, but by the same token my fears because of Dan that plagued the option of telling Will.

I just didn't know what to do. I don't think that there was a _right_ answer in this situation and all that I could do was hurt as few people as possible… If I told Will, it would crush Daniel and I knew that he would react badly. I would suffer the consequences of that option... However, if I didn't tell Will, I knew that I could count on the fact that Dan would continue supporting me as he had, but although I wouldn't be hurting anyone as such, Allie would be innocently pushed into living a lie and Will would remain none the wiser.

Staring at the pink painted feature wall of the room in front of me, I was still mentally sifting through and considering my options, although admittedly I had come to the conclusion of option two – keeping the secret a secret and not hurting anyone. It was only when I looked down to sleeping Allie that everything was thrown up in the air all over again.

My thoughts were interrupted after hearing familiar footsteps making their way up the hallway and eventually, approaching me in the room. Pressure was first applied to my hair as Daniel kissed the messy bun that I had thrown my hair into earlier, before his arms snaked around my hips from behind.

"What are you doing Bel? She's fast asleep" Dan whispered as he pressed another kiss into my tied up ball of hair while we both watched the infant in front of us, sleeping peacefully and in her favourite position – arms spread out, lying on her stomach, head tilted to the side and with her bum up in the air.

"Just thinking" I replied vaguely in my whispered response.

He made some unimportant noise in acknowledgement, one that I couldn't quite identify. "That sounds heavy. What's up? You can talk to me…"

"No I can't" I whispered back, even surprising myself at how direct and blunt my comment had come out as. The same comment pricked Daniel's attention as he moved away from behind me and leveled with my position against the cot where he too lent on the wooden side, but with his attention and furrowed brow directed completely at me.

"What do you mean you _can't_? Course you can. You know that you can tell me anything – same goes for me to you."

Between deciding whether I was going to answer him or not with a confession of what I had been pondering before he interrupted me, I analyzed his last comment. He made us sound like we had such a brutally honest relationship, that we were on such a level playing ground as individuals and as a couple. There was not even a feint sign of the misuse of power and abuse that Dan would seemingly forget about after each occurrence. I was expected to be completely honest and loyal to him, while he would act however he pleased at the time. The foundation of our entire relationship was based on a huge lie, which was only covered by a complete lack of stability, respect and honesty. I hated it.

More often than what I'd like to admit, I would backtrack my life, considering it from an alternative perspective and imagine what would happen if I had chosen left instead of right or yes instead of no, so as to speak. It was this mistaken sense of reality that led to my final decision to honestly tell Daniel my thoughts, even though I could almost predict the outcome of this confession with certainty.

"I know that I promised you that I wouldn't, but I've been considering the decision in light of recent _events_.. I think that I'm going to tell Will about Allie…"

His immediate anger was unquestionable and impossible to mistake.

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN BY TELLING _HIM_?! Do you honestly think that he will care about her like I do?! You and I both know that you are just going to end up back at square one again like you were when we got together…" he hissed in a sharp, loud whisper. Quiet enough to not awaken Allie, but loud enough to be a threatening authority.

"It doesn't matter what his reaction is! He's still her dad, Dan and they still deserve to know about each other regardless of what he wants to do about it!" I debated as I took a careful step away from him and his inextinguishable fury.

He huffed silently and steam might as well have been pouring out from his ears. Eventually, he had calmed himself down enough to the point that he could speak at a normal volume as he tried a calmer approach with me. "Come on Bella… You can't do this. If that moron knew about Allie, he would take her away from me... He would trample all over and ruin the special bond that I already have with her… I can't lose Allie – I can't lose another child. Even Allie already thinks that I'm her father!"

"You just contradicted yourself! A minute ago, you said that he wouldn't care and would just reject us if I told him and now you're saying that he would want to take the role on as her father and shove you aside! And I wonder _why_ she thinks you're her father?! It's only because she knows no different – you were who she was _taught_ to call dad. It's nurture, not nature. That's part of the reason I need to tell him too. I don't want my daughter being brought up, believing a lie that makes up a big part of her life… She's only just turned one, so there's still time to set things straight before her long-term memory improves" I said in an attempt to reason with him as I distractedly looked down at the sleeping subject of our argument with a sad smile.

His temper flared up again and he exhaled the rage out into the open. "After _everything_ that I've done for both of you, you think I'm just going to stand by and let him take you two?!"

"Dan… You're overreacting. He's not going to _take_ us! I'm not breaking up with you by telling Will! There's a chance that he might not even want anything to do with Allie! Besides, there's nothing there between Will and I anymore, and don't forget that he's in a relationship with Amy… As in Amy that I work with" I added, trying my hardest not to display my emotions and hurt of the betrayal from both parties that were involved in my last sentence.

"Whatever, I don't care. I don't want him knowing. End of story" he said as he turned around and began to walk out of the room.

I touched his back to catch his attention before I spoke, brushing my temple with my hand before I moved my hand, positioning it in front of me and in Daniel's direction as some sort of gesture. I sighed, before attempting to reason with my impossible boyfriend, really feeling like I had to pull out anything that would have an impact on him for him, before he would listen to reason. "Put yourself in their shoes Daniel. What if you and Nick were Will and Allie? If you were Will, you would've wanted to know about Nick if you already didn't! Why are you convinced that it would it be any different for him?"

Instead of receiving a response to my question, all I got was the unanticipated slap of a hard hand on my cheek that I really should have been expecting, given the sensitivity of my latest comment.

"THAT WAS A BIG MISTAKE, BELLA! DON'T YOU DARE TALK ABOUT HIM" he fumed angrily at me, waking my toddler up from his yells that had exceeded the volume of his previous louder comments.

Clutching my tender and reddening cheek, I walked over to the cot, sliding my arms past the wooden barrier that I had been leaning on before, grabbing my daughter who had since stood up; holding her arms out for the comfort of being held for the same reason as to why she whimpered from the yells and rude awakening.

"DON'T FOLLOW ME OR I _WILL_ TELL HIM!" I threatened, speaking louder than I had spoken for the rest of our argument, but not loud enough to alarm Allie who I clutched especially tight as I hurried out of the room, ignoring the increasingly painful sting of my cheek, grabbing my bag and leaving the house.

Daniel had unknowingly made my decision for me.

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><p>I rapped on the wood of the door frame with my knuckles one handedly, while the other held a dozy Allie. We waited outside together until there was an eventual opening of the door that was in front of us.<p>

"Oh, hi Bella" Will greeted quickly before looking behind his back and throwing his thumb in that direction as a gesture. "Rikki?"

I assumed that he was referring to the reason behind my visit. The credibility of my theory was increased as he took a step away from the door and positioned himself slightly in the direction that he had been gesturing to before I had replied.

"No. You… Are you busy right now?"

He looked startled as he took that step back towards the door which he had initially shifted away from. "Oh, uh, no… not really…"

Even before he had opened his mouth to respond to the question that had led him to more or less trip over his own words, I could tell that he was uncomfortable. One hand in his pocket and the other hand scratching the back of his neck were the Will Benjamin moves that epitomized his subconscious discomfort.

Will's discomfort didn't help matters at all, undoubtedly only contributing to my own edginess in the situation of knowing the decision that I had made and what loomed ahead. Unfortunately, this was only going to be the 'easy' part of my day.

"Um, do you want to go for a walk?" I suggested gently to him, watching as he sighed, looking down to the ground, scratching his shoulder before his gaze returned to me. "I don't know if that's the best idea, Bella…"

"Please?" I quickly added before he had a chance to continue with his polite decline. "I really need to talk to you Will."

Another sigh. Fortunately, a nod preceded it as he told me to wait a minute and entered into the house before returning with his wallet, keys and phone less than 30 seconds after he left.

"Are there any playgrounds nearby?"

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><p>The three of us took our time making our way to the playground that Will was leading us to as I carried Allie in my arms, ignoring her grizzles and wriggles that meant she wanted to walk. Walking to the park was awkward enough as we struggled to make petty small talk and conversation. Thankfully, arriving at the park proved to put us both more at ease than what we had been for the entirety of the rest of the time we had spent together.<p>

Putting down the anxious toddler who saw all the brightly coloured play equipment, Allie bolted for and unsteadily ran over to the yellow kangaroo shaped spring rocking seat. I watched her for a few moments, making sure that she was okay climbing onto the piece of equipment, before Will cleared his throat and interrupted my focused gaze. "So what's did you want to talk about that's so important? Have you heard something else about Lewis?"

"No" I replied honestly, shaking my head and looking over to him. "The last that I've heard, he's just been diagnosed and I'm sure Rikki would've told you that."

"Yeah, Rikki called us from the hospital."

I nodded, biting my lip and beginning to feel the regret of my impulsive decision to reveal everything to him.

I knew he was watching, waiting for me to say something else, but I didn't. I didn't until he questioned me again.

"So… What's up then?"

All of a sudden, I felt a complete regret over my brave and spontaneous move at initiating a right for all the wrongs. The thing that I wanted more than anything else in this moment was to curl up into a ball and hide away until Will became bored enough to leave. It was one of those 'please let me be anywhere but here' moments wanting the ground to swallow me up whole that was topping off one hell of an awful day. And I had no-one to blame for that but myself.

"Okay, I don't even really know how to say this – it's a whole lot easier in theory… But anyway, after some, uh recent events, I feel like there's something I need to tell you, something that should've been said a long time ago."

I paused in between speaking, looking up momentarily to see Will watching from next to me. He looked interested and engrossed in what I had to say, unfortunately, and I could tell that he was clutching onto my every word. I closed my eyes and swallowed, hard, thinking that it might have made it easier to talk for some reason. But it didn't.

"I haven't been completely honest about Allie. Most people either think or have assumed that Daniel's her father… But he's not…"

Another pause with my eyes still closed.

"You are."

Once I'd let go of my big secret and once it was released into the open, where I couldn't take it back no matter how much I could try, I eventually worked up the courage to open my eyes and to see whether or not Will was still standing there and if so, his reaction.

He looked calm. _Calm_?! No hyperventilating, no pacing, no flight response. Was it perhaps just a case of the calm before the storm or something crazy like that?

I noted that the only change in him was that he was holding onto his nose from between his thumb and forefinger with the rest of his hand trailing down and covering his mouth in that male manner that was generally adopted by men when deep in thought or total shock. It was like their feeble attempt to mask their emotions.

"What? So she's not Daniel's? Are you sure?"

"Positive. Allie was a newborn when I _met_ Dan. That's _how_ we met… I hired him to babysit her when I worked."

His hand that appeared to be almost acting as a security blanket to his feelings eventually moved away from his mouth that he had been protecting. I watched him closely, waiting for a cue that would lead to the inevitable questions that he would have, but his next movement was surprisingly just calm speech.

"Do you know what? In all honesty there was this one moment a few weeks ago when I thought 'maybe she is mine' - but I excused that thought because I was _so_ _sure_ that you would have told me… I thought I knew you better than being the kind of girl that would hide something like that, Bella."

I saw his look of disappointment that flitted in my direction before he turned his whole body around to face the playground that had since caught his focus.

"It's not like I didn't _try_ to tell you about her when I was pregnant! You're partly responsible for not knowing too!" I replied in defense of myself, crossing my arms to appear stronger than I felt even though he wasn't even looking in my direction.

"What? How on earth am I partly responsible for that?! I'm sorry if I missed seeing the fact that you were having my child when I was looking into my crystal ball, Bella! I'm not a mind reader and I had no reason to even be cynical of the possibility that you were pregnant."

His response was irritable and short with me. I could tell that he wasn't happy. This was not the way that I wanted this meeting to pan out; even though I knew there were few better ways and countless worse. In conjunction with that, I sat down on the park bench with a sigh.

"Do you want to sit down and let me explain things?" I offered softly, choosing not to take a verbally aggressive and sarcastic comment as my reply to his similar comment. Turning this into a self-defensive argument of who was more in the wrong than the other was not going to help matters.

He hesitated, staying standing in the spot where he was still overlooking the playground, something else evidently on his mind.

"Otherwise this is just going to be pointless so I'll leave" I added in the same soft tone, but with a more serious annotation to my original suggestion.

He looked over to me briefly before taking a seat on the park bench alongside myself. I waited momentarily, expecting my eardrums to be blasted with questions and demands of answers, but no he only uttered a mild question that he stumbled over his wording with once again. "Is she a merm-" he started to say carelessly before pausing mid-word and scanning our surroundings. "I mean does she have your _marine physical attributes_?"

I was slightly stunned. Checking whether she was a mermaid or not was one of his first questions? By the same token, I had to remember who I was talking to… Will, Queensland's teenage diving extraordinaire… Not Daniel who was more opposed to water and anything remotely marine than anyone else I had ever known.

"Yes, she's like me but just a little bit different. She's only been like _that_ for six months. I'm not sure if that's because that's around the normal age that babies can do swimming lessons and all that, so if it was almost like she uh, _changed_ at a safe age. She also takes 30 seconds instead of 10, and since she was born, it's taken me 20 seconds to change too."

Will nodded, displaying an expression that was a mixture of shock and fascination. "What does Lewis think about that? Did he come up with some genius explanation about it?"

"No. He couldn't narrow it down past the obvious fact that pregnancy and birth must have an impact on it since the other girls haven't changed at all."

A smile slid across his lips before it was controlled and contained as he started to speak. "Um, would I be able to see her like that sometime? Take her on a swim? A baby like you girls sounds really awesome."

I didn't want to prohibit Will from seeing Allie, but he was getting too close. Way closer than what Daniel would be happy with, meaning that the chance that he would learn that Will knows would be way too risky. "Um, maybe… At some point…She's never actually swam in open water before. And she's a bit different to us. Hers isn't orange or golden, it's like a pearl-white sort of colour – really pretty."

His face lit up a little more before it dropped rapidly, at an even faster pace than the previous expression.

"What about your boyfriend?" he asked as his eyebrows furrowed marginally. "Does he know about her? Or about either of you?"

I should have known or at least realized that he would ask that. Both boys seemed to have a mutual hostile disliking towards each other and if Daniel didn't want Will to have anything to do with Allie, then I could just as well assume the same with Will.

"Yeah" I started to confess honestly and painfully as my vision shrunk down to watching the ground. "We'd already been together for several months when she changed and a trust was already starting to be built up since he'd started babysitting her. Before that, I had managed to keep the secret when it was just me, but Dan worked out that I was hiding something pretty quickly after she changed. I had no choice but to tell him."

Will looked away, a contained sigh subtly leaving his evidently fuming face. "There's _always_ a choice, Bella."

"There hasn't been a _choice_ in a long time, Will" I replied with an equally as short answer to his question.

He remained silent for a few moments until his look and his gaze deepened marginally. "What do you mean by that? There's something you're not telling me, isn't there?"

"Of course. I'll tell you anything you want to know about Allie, but Daniel isn't your concern or your business to be quite honest."

The next expression that Will portrayed was increasingly harder to identify. I wasn't certain whether it was anger, annoyance or agitation. Perhaps it was a mixture of all of the above. All that I knew was that it wasn't a good expression.

"Okay, I understand, your relationship – none of my business, not that I even especially want it to be, but I'm allowed to be concerned if I think Daniel, regardless of whether he is your boyfriend or whether he's a total stranger, is a risk to putting my child at harm. You made _your_ decision when we tried to help you Bella when you came over a few weeks ago. We were all there for you, the three of us, but you completely rejected it!"

With everything else that was going on, I'd completely forgotten about that day. Dan and I's domestic in the street out the front of the other's house. The day the others saw what he did to me. The day that I was torn between my head and my heart… All I remember is wanting nothing more that day than to run over to Rikki and the boys and to be protected with Allie. That was my heart. But in that ultimatum with Dan's all too smug look and the other's desperation, my head knew that I simply couldn't. Again, I had no choice – I knew what he would do if I chose the option of short-term safety that my heart was pleading for.

"Again, it wasn't that simple…"

He looked at me, the complete frustration inscribed all over his face... He wasn't the only one. "How?! How is it not that simple?!"

"Listen. Daniel has evidence of what I told you before. If I left, there would be no fairytale ending. I know that he would stop at nothing to get us back. He would expose me and try to expose the other girls. He has the photos – one blood test and it's all over. Life for me and the girls would never be the same."

Will forced his head into his open hands, pushing down with his head as fast as he could and staying in that position of desperation until he looked up again thirty seconds later. "You have got to be kidding me... Do you want to try tightening up this massive knot anymore than you possibly have?!"

"I know… I'm fully aware of how messed up everything is, thank you!"

"Messed up?! Messed up is not telling me that we have a kid. Messed up is staying with that mentally unstable nutcase! This is WAY beyond 'messed up'!"

I sighed before defending my boyfriend's cause, all with the understanding of where Will was coming from too. All that he could see was the negatives, the risks. He had no idea what was underneath that top layer of mess. "He's not mentally unstable… He knows full well what he's doing… He's emotionally unstable, Will. He might seem fierce and powerful from the outside, but he's a completely broken guy who still's trying to heal. If I left, I might as well pull a trigger to shoot him dead. I don't want his blood on my hands!"

"Oh god, Bells… What have you gotten yourself into?" Will sighed, rubbing his temples as his voice softened since he'd snapped with the last statement he had spoken.

I sighed, remembering back to the night that had unfolded just under a year ago… Where that part of my mess had really began.

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><p><strong>So as mentioned in the first AN, as a little treat for you guys as a thank you for all you support for getting to me to 300 reviews (well hopefully I will considering I'm 3 off, LOL!) I want to send everyone who reviews this chapter (and is logged in obviously) a generous little snippet of the next chapter. It applies to everyone that reviews both before AND after I reach the 300 mark. Also, the longer that your review is, the longer your preview will be! Thank you guys!**

**Now, considering that this chapter and the next were initially written as one chapter, I've actually got chapter 20 sitting here ready and waiting so I will be able to message you the treat as soon as I've read and got access to my laptop (ie, after school). **

**Next chapter - Bella explains the remainder of Daniel's past and the reasons why she had never told Will about Allie. Bella and Will both receive a bit of much needed closure regarding their past relationship and decide where to go from there.**


	20. The Ties That Bind: Part 2

**Oh man. I was really not going to post this, but I've just made the spur of the moment decision to get this up. I was was going to wait another fortnight, but then I figured, 'oh what the heck - it was all supposed to be one chapter anyway!' and so here it is. All I can say is that I really don't know when the next chapter's going to be finished and up... Oh well. Enjoy this while it lasts.**

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><p><strong>Chapter 20 – The Ties That Bind, Part 2<strong>

_Bella's POV_

"Oh god, Bells… What have you gotten yourself into?" Will sighed, rubbing his temples as his voice softened since he'd snapped with the last statement he had spoken.

I sighed, remembering back to the night just under a year ago… Where this mess had really began.

**~10 Months Ago~**

_I exited from the bedroom that I shared with Allie and it was a matter of a step or two before I was in the kitchen. Spacious was not the word to describe our low-end, one bedroom flat. _

_After an hour and a half of poor miserable Allie fighting sleep, she'd finally succumbed to the exhaustion that we were both feeling. I hadn't even gotten over the sleepless nights that were a shock to my system since she was born when Allie had fallen ill at 3 months of age. In addition to the tiredness from caring for her, which had been especially intense since she had caught tonsillitis, I was scared witless. Being a young, single and inexperienced mother with a sick baby was frightening stuff. _

_Since she was too young to consume the majority of medicines, I had been left to mine own vices to research and find inexpensive natural medicines to help soothe and heal her tonsillitis that had left my normally happy and content baby feeling miserable. _

_I had taken the week of off work considering that she was so sick. However, as I learnt after answering the unexpected knock at the door, I had forgotten to cancel my daughter's babysitter Daniel Shapiro from coming over. _

"_Oh! Daniel! I am so sorry, I completely forgot to text you about not coming over… I've taken the next week off work."_

"_That's fine, we all forget sometimes. Only human!" he smiled, brushing my forgetfulness off with a wave of his hand. "Is everything okay, though?" _

_I helplessly let out an un-amused laugh purely due to exhaustion. "Ha. No, not really. Allie's got tonsillitis and I'm getting pretty close to throwing the towel in." _

"_Oh poor baby. My son had that a few years back, he was a similar age. It's frustrating because you can't give them much medicine at that age. Then they don't sleep because they're in pain and you can't sleep because it breaks your heart seeing them so miserable, and then you can't help them because you're so tired too! Vicious circle…" _

_I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Every word that he had spoken described how I was feeling to a tee! _

"_That's exactly it!" I said with a half smile starting to spread across my mouth momentarily. That one moment of relief, feeling that I wasn't alone and that I wasn't the only person to go through that when loneliness has epitomized my feelings of late, was enough to make me smile. "No chance that you know any mystery or miracle cures for it?" _

"_Well, I wouldn't call it a cure, but we found that putting the juice of half a fresh lemon in milk formula really worked a treat." _

_Another glimmer of hope was starting to shine through. Daniel the babysitter was really turning into my knight in shining armor..._

"_Well I know said that I didn't need you tonight, but do you mind doing me a really big favour and just stay here with Allie so that I can quickly get a few lemons from the shop? She's asleep so you can watch TV or use my computer or whatever while you wait. " _

_I took a welcoming step aside from the door to let him in, but instead Daniel reversed the action and took a step back. "Do you one better. I'll go get the lemons for you if you want." _

"_Are you sure? That would be amazing. Thank you." _

_There was a wink that went along with a cheeky smile that he hadn't displayed in any of our professional encounters previously. "Anytime."_

**~ Present Day ~ **

"So what you're telling me is that he was Allie's babysitter? That's not exactly a scandal that could wrap you in the mess that you are in. I don't get where you are coming from, Bella."

I'd just tried to explain parts of the memory that I'd just had, the memory that was really the beginning of everything and the turning point with Dan.

"That's not all…" I sighed, opening my mouth to continue my explanation.

**~ 10 Months Ago – Later That Day ~ **

_It hadn't been long after Daniel returned that Allie woke up grumpily once again. During my unsuccessful attempts of settling her, Daniel had been juicing the lemons in the kitchen and preparing the milk recipe that he thought would help her. Initially Allie had had refused to drink much of the milk, which he explained was probably due to the sour taste that she wasn't used to. Eventually though, she settled and became immune to the taste, slowly drinking the whole bottle. _

_That was what led us to now, sitting on the secondhand lounge -all that I could only afford to buy- as I rocked Allie in a rhythm, and hopefully to sleep, while talking to my unexpected company for the last little while. _

"_So where did you learn that lemon milk trick?! You're honestly a lifesaver to both of us." _

"_My wife was a nurse" he replied softly, as I noted that he was edging deeper into the couch. "That was just one of the things she picked up at work." _

_I nodded, instantly feeling uncomfortable at the mention of a wife, hoping that I hadn't accidentally overstepped the mark with anything that I had done or said throughout the time we'd spent together today. I hadn't realized he was married. Was hanging out like this even considered going too far? "Oh... In that case, thank your wife for me too then." _

"_Ah… That's not necessary. Our divorce papers are waiting for me wherever they're sitting on the table at home." _

"_Sorry" I murmured, surprisingly becoming even more uncomfortable than when I thought that he was married, well happily married at least. _

_He shrugged. "It's okay. I've had a fair while to come to grips with it. What about you? What's your story? Dating? Marri-" he began to ask before I cut him off. _

"_Single." _

_He shot me a puzzled look as I rocked the baby in my arms. "So what happened to Allie's father?" _

"_He's not in the picture. I haven't seen him in a while" I returned, speaking succinctly and to the point. _

"_Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't realize…" _

_I shrugged his apology off. "Don't worry about it. Like you said, you learn to come to grips with it."_

_We shared a wordless murmur in acknowledgment of, and in understanding of each other until I remembered something that Dan had mentioned earlier._

"_So what about your son? Are you a single dad now too or does your wife have custody?" I asked, and as soon as I saw the look on his face, I could tell that I'd put my foot in it once again. I tried to clarify myself in the awkward moment, while attempting to understand why it had been made so awkward. "You mentioned a son earlier… The lemons." _

_He eventually snapped out of what was acting as like some sort of thirty-second trance until he spoke again. Once again, at an even softer volume. "Nick… No, um, no Nick's uh…he's gone." _

_My stomach dropped. I couldn't even imagine the gut-wrenching pain that would come with losing a child; something that stole so much of your helpless heart, something that you poured so much love into. I felt terrible as I watched his eyes prick with tears. He struggled to even say the words._

"_I shouldn't have asked you… I am __**so**__ sorry." _

_Watching him made me feel even worse and I made the immediate decision to try and change the subject out of consideration for him. Holding Allie in one arm, I comfortingly touched the top of his shoulder with my free hand before he interrupted me again and just started explaining everything without me even asking another question… It was like he needed to let it out and talk to someone about it._

**~ Present Day ~**

I'd just finished explaining to Will about Daniel and I's early interaction and his early history that I had discovered about his wife, emotional wreckage number one. Then when I told him that he'd lost a son, I saw the first tinge of empathy that I had ever seen from Will regarding my new boyfriend.

"Oh hell. How awful…" he cringed with a display of sympathy that I could distinguish as genuine.

"I know... Nick was only three years old – that's just not right."

I watched Will as he sighed and bit his lip uncomfortably. "Geez, poor guy... What happened to the boy?"

"He drowned. Daniel and his wife took Nick for a walk, took their eyes off of him for a split second, he fell in the water and it was too late by the time Dan dove in after him... You have no idea how much the drowning has haunted him – he still wakes up crying and screaming, having nightmares of that day."

"I can't even imagine how devastating that would be" Will gaped, all personal disliking of Daniel seeming to be pushed to the side as he listened to his story and history that I was slowing revealing to him, before it was almost as if he spooked, as instantly as a horse, looking worked up and annoyed once again. "Hold on, did you say his '_wife'_? Wait, don't tell me you're a home wrecker now too, Bella!"

"What?! No!" I protested with annoyance. That presumption had not won him any brownie points to say the least. "He and his wife had been separated for months before we even met! They were divorced by the time we started dating! His marriage fell apart after their son died – she started cheating. Honestly though, how low do you think I am?!"

He cringed apologetically, almost instantly. "Sorry. At this point, I don't really know what I'm thinking anymore, let alone saying."

"I know. It's a lot to take in…" I sighed simply, only being able to hope that some of what I had said had made any sense and added to any justification, even if it was just a little. "But do you see why I'm still with him? His emotions might take over from the jealousy and fear of losing us when he's with me, but I know that Allie's safe. That's what's important. Daniel would _never_ hurt her. He's never, ever let Allie swim in open water, he probably watches her closer than I do whenever she's near water or in the bath and he always makes sure one of us carry her on the beach or by the marina and all that. He is _so_ protective of her."

"If _you're _so safe with him, why have we seen him hitting you? You can't stand by him when he does that to you, regardless of what his problems are! He doesn't deserve you if he doesn't even treat you right!"

I knew that Will wouldn't be able to see the full picture. When something was in the way and when something was in his focus, there was no diluting it. Everything else, however, became a vague figure in the background. I could yell, stomp and scream my case and he would still be blind-sighted by the hitting and abusive side of our relationship. I blame the one-angled focus on all the rigorous diving for such a large portion of his life. I on the other hand _knew_ that it wasn't right, I knew that there wasn't much worse in a relationship, but I couldn't overlook the big picture of our relationship and what direction a break up would have a domino effect towards. I could handle the abuse, but I wouldn't be able to live with the aftermath if I left him.

"I know what you're thinking – how wrong it all is, there's no excuse for the hits. I _realize_ that, but I can handle it. Not only will the girls and I be far from exposure, if I stay with him, there are no problems then. The only times that he has hit me is when he's felt threatened or jealous. The first really bad day when I ended up with Rikki was after his mate had called him and tipped him off that I'd been out with a guy… It was that day that we bumped into each other, literally, and went out for lunch together. Ever since then he's completely lost the plot about you. It's obviously brought back all of these memories from since the drowning that made him so vicious – the idea of you taking Allie from him, and basically losing what he considers as another child and then the idea of me cheating like his wife did. He only reacts like that because he cares too much to lose us and feel the pain of having another family fall apart. If I left him, he would break down… I'm really scared that he would hurt himself or take it out on someone that's completely innocent to all of this, not to mention the photos."

"If he cares so much, then he has a damn funny way of showing it!" he muttered with annoyance that I just shrugged off. It was Will's focus again… Meaning very few ways of getting through to him.

I took a deep breath, rubbing my hands on my legs as a comfort to my nervousness while I prepared myself to deliver even harder news. "Anyway… Listen. I figure that if I steer clear from you, then Daniel will have no reason to react like that and our lives might be able to get back on track again.

"But. Allie-" he replied in an attempt with starting to debate my proposition that I hope would solve everything, before we were both interrupted.

The subject of much of our conversation came unsteadily running (if you could even call it that) over to us from the playground to the park bench.

"Mummy!" she shrieked unclearly to catch my attention, just as I had turned to watching her come over, standing up and ready to pick her. Instead, she walked straight past me, over to the bench and more importantly to my handbag.

Searching through my handbag, I watched from my stand of rejection a few metres away until I returned to my seat on the park bench. Allie pushed my purse out of the way and momentarily became distracted by my keys that are one of her favourite non-toy toys. Eventually the girl-on-a-mission found what she was looking for, pulling her plastic bright pink bottle out of the bag and stopping her rummage through my belongings. She took a step closer to the seat where I was, before holding her arms out towards me, something that proved to be a tricky mission for her as she struggled to not drop the bottle.

I picked her up, opened the bottle for her and pulled the straw that she had become accustomed to drinking out of for most of her young life. She slumped down in my lap and rested her body against my chest, using my body as a seat as she sipped away with her focus on the drink.

The three of us sat silently, Allie drinking while I stroked her forehead that was on the warm side from the running around and playing that she had occupied herself with while Will and I had been talking. I was seriously grateful for having such a placid child.

I hadn't noticed Will watching her with a small smile and with as much focus as she had on drinking from her water bottle, not until he evidently bit the bullet and spoke for the first time since the interruption.

"Can you tell me about her?" he questioned without losing the focus or expression that he displayed centimeters away on the same bench as me.

I probably knew Allie and every little detail about her better than I knew anyone else and than anyone else who knew her. However, being put on the spot like that, it was difficult to compound my entire knowledge of every detail about Allie within a few mere comments.

"Um, well, she turned one in November, she's been walking for a few months as you obviously saw before, and she was crawling for a few months before that. She can say a fair few words and names, but she can't speak in complete sentences yet, although she does try to copy a lot of words you say-" I started to explain before Will cut me off with an increase in the size of his gentle smile.

"Little chatterbox – just like you. What _can_ she say?"

"Oh trust me; it's pretty hard to ignore the bits of you that are in her too. Um, words… Well she says mum obviously and-" This time I cut myself off from speaking, processing the following word before I spoke it at a much lower level to avoid Will hearing it and making things awkward, raising the volume of my voice as I continued after the one word. "Dad… She also says cat, dog, no and she counts to three. She tries to say Rikki and Cleo but it comes out completely different."

Again, his smile increased as he let out a short, soft laugh before his focus turned from me onto the girl sitting on my lap contentedly.

"Hi Allie…" he said, speaking softly and reaching out to gently pat her hair before retracting his hand shortly after she had looked at him, having reacted to her name that she could recognize now. That was where the recognition ended. It had been a mere moment of her blank expression before she looked away once again and turned her attention back to her drink. Allie had no recognition of him, none at all and therefore having no interest in the man that was obliviously to her, her father.

I looked over to him as he settled back in his spot again, keeping his hands to himself now as a slightly sad frown set on his face. More guilt. It seemed that I just couldn't get enough of that feeling of late. All I hoped was that by trying to lay the truth out and make things better, that I _hadn't_ made things worse.

"Why didn't you say anything to me when you were pregnant, Bella? What made you think that I didn't deserve to know about my own child?"

I swear the questions just kept getting harder and harder and worse and worse, but really I had no one to blame… No one, but myself.

"I _tried_, Will. I promise you that I tried to get in contact with you after I realized I was pregnant."

"Obviously you didn't try hard enough…" he retorted quickly, the annoyance clearly written over his face.

My lips tightened and I crossed my arms the best I could considering that someone was lying against them. "That's not fair! I tried calling and texting you umpteen times, you never answered me or returned one single call. I tried visiting and I could hear you from outside telling Sophie to shoo me away – I knew you knew I was there. I tried emails; I tried getting Cleo and Lewis to pass on messages for you to contact me. Sure you didn't know what I had to tell you, but couldn't you get the picture that I was desperate to get in touch with you?! It was your decision to ignore me like that and I figured that if you didn't have the nerve to press one button to talk to me on your phone, that you didn't deserve to know about the pregnancy!"

"Well I'm sorry Bella if I didn't take our break up well. We were together for two years – I'm sorry if I didn't just bounce back from that!" Will replied with his words indicating apology, while his tone drenched the words in sarcasm.

"You weren't the only one! How do you think I felt? It was awful! I spent entire weeks after we broke up pouring all of my energy into hating you and moving on from you. Then, just as soon as I started to get my life back on track and make a fresh start, it was just _bam!_… 'Oh hold on, my body forgot to let me know that I'm having your baby'."

I looked over and immediately noticed that Will's face softened from the annoyance that had been blended with anger from a few minutes ago. "I'm sorry… For everything. So you didn't know before we broke up?"

"No, I would've been obliviously pregnant for a fair while but by the time I realized and confirmed it, you and me were well and truly over" I replied simply with a shake of my head, elaborating on my initial answer before Will even had a chance to respond to that. "Like remember that flight from hell?" I added, laughing lightly at the awful memory that you couldn't help but laugh at now that it was over and done with.

"Ohhh. Back to Oz from Phuket… when we had that really dodgy meal on the stopover in Singapore?"

I nodded as his face scrunched up from the same memory. The two of us had been as sick as dogs on the agonizing seven hours of flying. We had both automatically classified our illnesses as food poisoning.

"Yeah... That's the one. Remember how we thought we'd both caught food poisoning? I think that that must have been what _your_ problem was, but when I was trying to work out due dates I realized that was more than likely not the cause for me since I'd barely eaten anything there anyway…"

"Makes sense. We were too focused on trying to save our relationship on that trip; I completely overlooked how crook you had been feeling on and off for the whole time…"

During some of the last days of our courtship, Will had still been doing the pro-diving and had reached the level of representing both Queensland and Australia as a whole in international competitions. That was what had led us both to Phuket. It was the chance that we took for a holiday too, hoping that it would be somewhat separated from our problems, leaving us together, but away from everyone else for a week. We'd used it as a far-fetched final attempt to patch up and rejuvenate the rapidly disintegrating threads of our relationship which had been rocky for months before the trip. The way history had written itself was that although we'd both enjoyed the trip as a holiday, it had made no difference on our relationship… Which I had pulled the plug on not long after we had returned from Phuket.

"I wish I hadn't been stupid enough to ignore my damn phone" Will frowned to himself, the anger passing through his eyes as I bit my lip.

"If I'm being completely honest, even if you had known about Allie from the beginning, I _really_ don't think having a baby would've saved our relationship… At all. Our relationship was basically the Titanic – all I wanted to do was get off before I was hurt, but you insisted on going down with the ship. A baby that was thrown into our situation would've just been another iceberg that pulled us down harder and faster."

He nodded slowly, almost in acceptance. Completely different to the insistent and determined Will that I had left several years earlier. The Will who was hell-bent on riding our relationship out until it was completely exhausted and ruined. "Even still, who knows if I had answered though, you might not be in the mess you are if I had…"

"In all honesty, there actually one moment, one point when the ball was in my court even despite you ignoring me… I saw you at Pacific Fair shopping centre about a month before I had Allie. There, I had _one_ opportunity to tell you…"

For the umpteenth time today, Will's face soured to a frown, but this was definitely one of the strongest.

"You did? Why didn't you come over to me? Why didn't you choose to say something?"

And there lay yet another hurtful truth that I had tried to forget within my mess… My mess with Will anyway, completely unrelated to my mess with Daniel. "Because you were with another girl… I always had that hope that we'd be unrealistically fairy-tale-y, thinking that we wouldn't be complete without each other, but I watched the two of you for a few minutes and I could just tell that you were happy and that you were in love with whoever she was. And now, you have Amy and I have Daniel."

"We aren't meant to be together… Are we, Bella?" he replied after a few minutes as he was taking what I had said in and digested the thought with the sad conclusion.

I shook my head, not without that sadness and that twinge of pain, but honestly. "No. But don't get me wrong… I really liked you… I even loved you Will - when we were young. But we were just that… Young.

Once again it took Will a while to respond as he reacted to my words through his expressions and his face first. I could recognize the acceptance, yet slight sadness in his eyes – it was the feeling that mirrored through me.

"So what do we do from here? What can we do about Allie?"

"Very little," I sighed. "Daniel _can't_ know that you know she's yours for all of the reasons that I mentioned earlier. If you're wanting to see her, the best I can do is get Rikki to let you know if I come over and visit her, then you two might be able to spend a little bit of time together every now."

Will's face was almost a mini-rollercoaster as it flitted from disappointment before it settled with a small smile.

"I guess if that's the best offer that I have for now, I'll take for now…"

"It is."

* * *

><p><strong>So there you have it. You lot and Will all know basically everything about that now! Thoughts? This chapter really meant a lot to me personally because I've poured a lot of heart and emotion from personal experiences into this... Being an island, idealic-beach-weather country, drowning unfortunately come with the territory in Australia. But the effects that it has on families and individuals is awful and it leaves horrendous mental and emotional scars. It's truly awful. Now by no means do I want to justify the abuse, but I just wanted to clarrify that Daniel's feeling his own pain and he is working through his own problems too. When you have something as big as that haunting you, you have very little control in the way you react and deal with it when it's so fresh.<strong>

**I personally think Will & Bella REALLY needed to have that chat for the sake of getting everything out in the open, but also to have that long overdue closure regarding their former relationship. I know that basically everyone that reviewed is wanting Will and Bella to get back together, but it seems like it's pretty much the end of the road for them? All I can say is that like the other's, there is still a lot left of this plot, and Allie is definitely going to be a connection for them now that the truth is out there. **

**Anyway, there's still so much left! I feel like this was quite a revelationary chapter (well 2 chapters), but I haven't even reached the climax! **

**Next chapter - _Trying to work his head and feelings out, the news and shock of being a father finally starts to set in for Will; Will and Rikki's friendship is tested; and Will's inability to say 'no' lands him in hot water on a date with Amy._ **


	21. Out Of Left Field

**Sorry, I was hoping to update sooner, but I've been in Queensland, chilling on the ironically not-so-Gold Gold Coast and Brizzy! I think it didn't rain for only one day, not to mention there's been the flooding all over the state... And going home has been the total opposite! At least it didn't dampen the fun is all that I say! The beaches were terribly battered from the wind and rain along the coast though and the majority near Surfer's Paradise were closed from the damage. **

**Oh and how's all the exciting H2O cast news been lately?! Luke's got a lead role on a new U.S. show (and his wifey's in a new show too), Angus is back on PTTR, Indiana's confirmed to be returning to _Crownies_ for the spin-off (but come on, seeing as Conrad isn't returning, we all know Tatum's unfortunately going to end up Richard), Cariba had the role in _Howzat_! and the movie and Phoebe's got the new show that's a spin-off of _TVD_ that Claire's in! Cannot believe how well they're all doing with their careers! **

**Enjoy!**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 21 – Out Of Left Field<strong>

_Will's POV_

I had just parted ways with Bella and Allie - My ex-girlfriend and my_ daughter. _

I was thankful to my coping-mechanisms within me that had allowed me to take the news as best as I could at the time when I was being dealt with Bella's total honesty. The last thing she needed was for me to spook on her and freak out at the time and the last thing I needed was for her to clam up again, especially when she was being so blatantly honest to me at last with the much-needed truth. It was absolutely life changing - a word that is used way too frequently in such a pitifully minor context. _This _is life changing_..._

However, now that I was on my own, I could feel my serenity passing away and my rationalism was drying up…

Now, the impact of the news I received today was really starting to hit and dawn on me.

You know how something unexpected takes a while to sink in and for the realization to hit? That is exactly what it left like. A ball had pelted out of left field in my direction and the hit was only just beginning to be felt.

The majority of people, normal people, had 8 or 9 months to prepare themselves for the same news that I had just been informed of. The news of becoming a parent and having a child… Hell, mine had already been around for over a year! What have I even been doing over the last year?! I had a child out there, a living, breathing child and I was completely oblivious to it and to her existence.

I guess I felt a little bit robbed. I would have already missed so many milestones of Allie's and I was none the wiser.

Fourteen months ago when my daughter was born, a monumental day for any parent, it would have been just been a normal day for me. Heck, I can't even remember what I did on the day! When Allie was taking her first steps, forming her first words, I would have been carrying on life as normal with no cause to consider the significance that I was missing out on. So much for all that parental instinct garbage…

* * *

><p>After I finally felt calmer and at ease enough to enter the house again, I walked in and made my way straight through to the kitchen to get myself a beer bottle with the intention of isolating myself in my room with it, either sorting things out in my head or sleeping the shock off.<p>

What my plan didn't factor in was Zane's presence.

"Where'd you sneak off to?" Zane smirked as I walked straight passed him on my mission to reach the fridge.

"I don't want to talk about it…" I said, attempting to palm him off which failed as he unintentionally made me feel worse while he thought that he was joking around with me. "Aw, come on. Will's not a happy boy? Tell Papa-Zane."

I slapped my hand on the cold, hard marble bench top to make a firm stand against him. "I _said_ I don't want to talk about it!"

His joking manner shriveled away to seriousness as the smile disappeared after I snapped at him for what he had perceived as a witty remark. "Seriously. mate, are you alright?"

"I'm a dad, Zane!" I huffed out of frustration, partly wanting to throw the glass beer bottle that was in my hands before fighting the frustration off with sarcasm. "I have a one-year old that I never knew I had. What part of that would make you think that I'm not alright?!"

"Man…" Zane huffed out as air fled through his lips in shock as he took in the information I was still struggling to wrap my own head around. "Hell, that's big… Bella, yeah?"

"Yeah." He nodded before speaking again with questions that were beginning to feel never ending continued, much to my personal disgust. "Do you reckon that there's much chance that you two could or would give things another shot, even if it's for the sake of your kid?"

"No. Do I need to remind you that we're both in separate relationships? Our daughter's the only thing that's come out of our relationship. She's the only common ground that we've got left now."

"What was her name again? Your kid, I mean."

"Allie..." I sighed. "And she's perfect and I don't what in the world I'm going to do about her…"

The two of us stayed sitting there in silence for a few minutes, an opportunity that I attempted to play to my advantage as I tried to sneak out of the room with the bottle that held the pale liquid that I had been initially planning to depart with before being stopped as Zane came to his senses.

"How are you going with it? I know you said you suspected it a few weeks ago, but it's still huge news."

My answer to his question was a shrug. It wasn't his query that especially bothered me, it was the fact that I was craving solitude right now to be able to make the decision of sorting my own head out about it, or to ignore it completely and focus on something different for a while.

"Have you thought about it much?"

"Well _that_ is the dumbest question since something that was on _Being Lara Bingle_" I bit back with annoyance, pressing my back against the closest wall to me that I was nearing.

He shrugged, unfazed. "Sorry. Bit speechless; words aren't coming out like they are in my head. What I mean to say is, have you thought about whether you're going to go for custody or joint-custody of her or anything like that?"

"I don't know, Zane! My head is spinning and I'm pretty sure that my brain's shocking information quota is chocker-block-full for the next year at least! At this stage, all that I have been able to work out is that I do want to have _something_ to do with her. Problem is that I wouldn't even know where to start with caring for a one-year old and being responsible for her. Allie would probably do a better job looking after me.

"Well you could always do a double deal with the lawyer and sue the newspaper company, as well as apply for custody of her... Might be cheaper for you."

I threw my hands to my face. Trust Zane to bring it all right back to money – the last thing that I was thinking of at the moment. "Listen. I don't even know if I _want_ to do a custody thing or anything. Bella said she will be able to come over with Allie sometimes when she see's Rikki so I can spend some time with Allie then. I think that just having _some_ access to her suits me best right now… Sure, she's my daughter but that doesn't override the fact that we're still total strangers to each other. There's a lot I still need to deal with, heck, I haven't even thought about what I'm going to do about telling my family."

"If you don't go for this now, Will, the custody I mean, and decide to later, the courts might debate that you weren't willing to now or reference back to now. Whereas, doing it now shows how committed you are."

"How does applying for custody show committment?! It would only show that I was being unrational! I just _told_ _you_ that don't know if I want custody right now, let alone to go for it. After Bella explained a truck-load of information today, I think that custody would only make things worse for both of us. I don't have the experience to even be a part-time father yet, let alone be a full time one. Anyway, try to name _one_ one-year old friendly item in this house, Zane. Besides, Bella sounded like she was really struggling at the moment. She said her boyfriend can't know I know otherwise it's going to get worse from here."

"So you're _both_ letting that fruitcake rule over you now?!"

That was the last straw with Zane, I'd had more than enough for the time being. "Shut up Zane. Leave me alone. Just asking questions and stop choosing my life for me. Stop everything around me, basically" I commanded firmly as I made my exit from the room that I had attempted to leave numerous times already.

I was making my way upstairs, noticing Rikki walk into the room that I had just left, but entering from the arch that she couldn't have seen me leaving from. On any normal day, that would not have bothered me in the slightest; Zane and Rikki can talk alone, they're housemates – it's nothing abnormal, but it was what happened next that caught my attention.

"Hey Rikki, guess what?" I could hear Zane say from the echo of the room as I walked upstairs while he made conversation with the only female representative of our share house.

"What? You're moving out?" she had witted with a typical Rikki-type retorting comment. That girl had endless tact.

Zane brushed off the comment with a laugh to guard his exterior that he would have used to act as though it had not impacted him, but I knew from past experience that that was the sort of comment that would have actually caused him a twinge of hurt. "Funny. But no, Rikki, you're wrong. I own the place, remember? Besides, it's better than that, I'm an almost-uncle!"

"An almost-uncle?" Rikki questioned as I rolled my eyes from another room. By this point I was beginning to tune out from the conversation, not wanting to know anymore than the fact that Zane had blown my news to Rikki too. Someone else to get prodded with questions from. "How does that work? You're an only child. Unless you've been kept in the dark about secret siblings too…"

"Nah, Will and Bella have a kid."

By this point I was nearly completely tuned out and out of hearing range as I reached the top of the staircase and headed for the destination of my bedroom. The next and last comment was make or break.

"What?! Bella finally told him?"

And that was it. That was the deal breaker – the final and only comment that I needed as an incentive to return downstairs and join the conversation, albeit unpleasantly, that I had spent the last 30 seconds listening in on. Ironically, in the sudden annoyance that I had been thrown into with Rikki's comment, I had completely tuned out to the conversation again as I walked back into the kitchen, although more interested in it now than what I had been the entire time.

"Are you serious?!" I blasted the second that my body entered the room. Rikki flinched in surprise and Zane's head darted towards my direction.

"About what?" Rikki replied, effectively managing to calm herself from the startled state when I first entered the room.

"Allie! You knew about her?! You knew about her the whole time and you didn't even think to tell me?!"

Rikki sighed, looking behind me and not into my eyes as she stared into the distance. "Listen. I don't agree with the way that Bella went about that, but I promised her that I wouldn't say anything."

"You've lived with me for the last few months and you've been able to live with knowing that I have child that I knew nothing about?! I understand that your best buds with Bella, but I thought that I was your friend too, Rikki…"

Rikki threw her hands up in the air and left the room, in a way, having the last laugh.

In all honesty, I was not surprised in the slightest that Rikki had known. It was no secret that Bella and I were together, especially not for Rikki, but given the events that have unfolded today and how over all of it I was, I was ready to snap at anyone. I knew it wasn't Rikki's fault, but I expected a little bit of loyalty, even if that was just a matter of her trying to convince Bella to tell the truth earlier, not that I had even really known the fuel behind Bella's motivation to come clean in the first place. Really, Rikki could have been behind it convincing her all along and I had just bit her head off.

It was at that point that things got even worse, once again and I heard my phone go off, signaling a new message that I had just received.

I pulled my phone out of my pocket, revealing the message from my girlfriend.

_**Amy Reed**__  
>I'm running a bit late, SORRY! xo<em>

"Brilliant…" I sighed under my breath, reading the text which acted as a reminder to my completely forgotten plans.

Zane tried to peer over and see the screen. "Who is it?"

"Amy. After today, the last thing I feel like doing is going on a date. No chance that you want to go on a date with my girlfriend for me?"

Zane's hand landed in his head, as his sudden laughter slowly died down. "Oh wow. You're having a good day, aren't you, mate?!"

"No. I'm more than ready to spontaneously combust right now. I want today to be over with already…" I sighed as I left the room, leaving to get ready for my date with Amy who I think I sent a reply to on my way...

In all honesty, I wasn't proud to admit it, but I think that Amy was just an accessory. She was Bella's friend, she was keen, I was interested in getting closer to Bella and finding out what she was hiding when Rikki obviously was not an option. Now I knew what that was, and more importantly that I knew that I had a daughter, Amy wasn't really needed anymore. I didn't want to just throw her out, that wasn't me, but it wasn't right to string her along in a relationship that I felt very little thrill or interest in.

Don't get me wrong, she was a lovely girl; funny and genuine, and I had enjoyed our dates that we had already been on together, but the last thing that I needed now, especially now that I knew about Allie, was a girlfriend.

Right now, I had a girl in my life, a girl that was going to need a lot of attention, time and focus to build up a relationship with – and that girl wasn't my girlfriend.

And that was what concluded my decision to likewise conclude my relationship with Amy…

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><p>Even despite being unprepared after having forgotten about my date with Amy, I was still the first one on the beach at the point that we had started off at on a few of our previous dates. Spending the time I waited to look out on the ocean that cleared my head only clarified my decision that I had made earlier –after my hugely hectic day- to end my relationship with Amy. That was all set and decided by me <em>until<em> hurricane Amy arrived.

Eventually I was joined by my girlfriend who would only be maintaining that position for the time being.

"Hey!" she called out with a smile as she made her way through the difficult sand. "Sorry I'm late."

I was joined to her on the public beach as she came over, leaning up and giving me a brief kiss in greeting.

"Don't worry about it. I haven't been here for long anyway."

"Mmm" she replied, before I felt the warmth of her pressing her lips into mine once again. "That's good in that case."

Eventually we retracted from each other, as initiated by myself, so she took my hand in hers as we walked closely together along the packed beach on the warm, sticky summer's evening.

Small talk was the initial conversation topics as we discussed our days, our superficial thoughts and our plans for tomorrow. We still hadn't quite gotten over that comfort mound when minor things like chats became more of a free-flowing and natural thing. To me, that was another reassurance of now being an ideal point to end our relationship, before we became too emotionally attached and connected.

A few minutes into the date, as the typical topics of conversation began to draw to a close, I prepared myself with the words that I would soon say, trying to think of the nicest possible manner to break up with Amy that I had brainstormed earlier, without her feeling like she was just being dumped because she was unneeded. In order to justify my decisions and achieve that goal, I felt like I needed to tell her about Allie; I needed her to have an understanding of that.

"Amy…" I sighed, beginning to tighten my grasp on her petite hands. I was nervous and had no idea how to handle what I wanted to come next. This was the first time that I was initiating a break up.

"I was kind of missing out a few parts when I was talking to you about what I did today…"

She laughed to herself, evidently keeping a light heart and positive attitude over the situation. "Oh yes… Did you forget to tell me about the time that you woke up, toilet breaks you had and the meals you ate?"

"No…" I chuckled away, trying to laugh at her joke that was becoming increasingly difficult when I remembered the impending news that I was going to need to impart to Amy, news that was probably going to dampen her cheerful mood at least slightly. "What I mean to say is that Bella came over and saw me today… She came over to tell me that her daughter, you know Allie, is actually our daughter."

I thought that I would get the hard news out of the way before I moved onto the worse news that would have started to be paved out by then. I felt terrible as I saw the shock on her face and I felt bad for feeling like I was toying around with her emotions, even though I had only learnt the news today too.

The shock on her face was short-lived until she displayed a much more definitive look of excitement as her face lit up. Not the reaction I was expecting. "Wow, I mean wow that's a big surprise, but that's pretty awesome… I've always thought that she was a gorgeous girl, but it's so much cooler now knowing that she's my boyfriend's daughter! You're going to love spending time with her – she's such an adorable child!"

"Yeah… That's just what I was trying to lead to. This is a big surprise for me too, and it's going to take a lot of time to get used to it. Then there's also the fact that I don't know Allie and I don't know one-year olds very well so it's going to take a lot of time and a lot of focus to work through and get used to... So, this is very hard for me to say, but I think that it would be best if we-"

"Of course, Will, there's no need to ask. It's totally understandable that you don't know Allie very well given the unusual circumstances and all, so I don't mind helping you when you're looking after her and all that. It'll be no trouble. I've looked after her a few times before. Besides, who knows, she might be my step-daughter one day... Well in a way, I guess that she already is, just not legally."

Oh hell. I knew I was bad and inexperienced at break ups, but this was _just_ my luck.

"Yeah that's one way of putting it, but all things considered and looking at the future scheme of things, I really think that it's best if I focus mainly on Allie for a while."

Amy nodded and I silently rejoiced over the fact that I thought it had finally gotten through to her. I was finally successful with getting my point across to my not-so-intuitive girlfriend. Saying no to suggestions and rejecting things was by no means my forte. "No, no, I completely understand. I think that's a really good idea. Take a bit of time now to focus mainly on your daughter so that it will be easier in the future. I get that."

"Oh good" I smiled, exhaling a long-held breath of relief as I spent a moment to appreciate how easy and mess-free this conversation was panning out, until the bomb was dropped.

"Yeah, I mean our relationship is going really well so I think that can afford you taking on a bit more responsibility and time with Allie. I'm always here for both of you. I'm just still trying to wrap my head around the fact _you're_ her dad! I've always thought she was a little sweetheart even when I thought she was Daniel and Bella's, but now, it's so much more exciting to think that she's sort of my step-daughter too, and one day she might be a half-sister to our children. It's just so exciting!"

Amy had taken my breath away, and not in a good way.

I had to take a step back…

_All_ of this had sprouted from me arranging to meet up with Amy and share my newly discovered news in an attempt to subtly and gently end our supremely short relationship, if you could even call it that. I don't even know how she had done it, but I'd started off explaining my thoughts in the exact manner that I had mentally planned and recited on the way to the date. However, Amy's expected reaction was way off.

I was expecting yelling, maybe some waterworks or if I was having a bad day, a slap across the face like you see in the movies before the girl walks off. But no, she was ecstatic. Ecstatic about the fact that I was Allie's father… And that wasn't all. Then from there, Amy had somehow managed to sidestep, reverse, maneuver and accelerate our conversation as it fell apart from my plans. She continued to rave about how adorable Allie is and how she is her somewhat step-daughter… For now. But no, that still wasn't all. _Then_ she started getting wrapped up in the idea of Allie having siblings. _From us._

My head was spinning.

All I knew is that I had met up with Amy with the intention to break up with her and now she was talking about us having kids?!

I am really going to need to brush up on my ability to say no, along with my skills in breaking up with girls…

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><p><strong>Hope you all enjoyed the chapter! I've written about 80% of the next one too, but I'm extremely busy with school at the moment, plus I'm engrossed in two amazing books which is all time-consuming ontop of other life stuff. Seriously though, one of the books, <em>'Perfect Scoundrels'<em> is the third in my favourite series and you don't know what you're missing out on if you haven't read it. I've already converted three die-hard _Hunger-Games-Is-The-Best-Book-In-The-World_ friend's of mine and the _'Heist Society'_ series is now number one.**

**Anyway, as for the chapter. Poor Will, not sure how much more drama I can pack on him for a while, but I'm going to give it a shot! Like Will, I am terrible at saying no and downright declinging someone in situations like that. It can be extremely dangerous, trust me... As for Amy, she's a bit of an interesting one, hey?! Thoughts on her? I know she was intense, but unfortunately I know people, especially, girls that are like that. As soon as they develop a crush, they start planning the wedding - no joke, give them an inch and they take a mile - and it just becomes an awkward mess for the guy involved.**

**Next chapter: After an initially rocky start with bonding, Rikki attempts to get Tam out of her life before the tables are turned on her. Then, which two characters unexpectedly up the ante with their relationship?**

**Don't forget your reviews!**


	22. Swimming In The Gene Pool

****So, another day, another chapter. I really hope that the grammar and punctuation is okay because although I proof-read it thoroughly as always, my brain is completely fried tonight. To sum it up, year 12 is basically more school work of a higher standard that is being squeezed into less time than any other year. I do not understand why we finish October/November while the other year levels go till November/December! Must say, I'm LOVING all of the senior-senior benefits though, hehe. Better/warmer/personalized school jumpers, first right to everything, canteen access anytime, the year 12 excuse, the list goes on...****

****Enjoy the chapter, you loyal readers of mine...****

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><p><strong>Chapter 22 – Swimming In The Gene Pool:<strong>

_Rikki's POV_

Life has been brilliant. Especially in our shared Benjamin-Bennett-Chadwick household, life has been just fantastic at the moment.

I have a half-sister whose arrival in my life has been like the missing piece to my soul; a part of me I never knew I was living without. Then there's Will whose life has been completed and fulfilled by Bella's confession to him with his discovery that they have a daughter together. Then there was Zane who was weaving through the seas of life with smooth sailing…

I wish.

Ever since Tam had turned up, my life had been knocked about and all of my previous assumptions and thoughts regarding my parents had received a cause for being questioned. Will's life was more messed up and unsettled than ever, leaving Zane to flit between the two of our messes.

Although Tam had only come over of her own initiative just the two times when she first visited to find and meet me and the second when I arrived home from being with Cleo at the hospital, to find the boys were looking after her, I hadn't ever initiated an invitation for her to return.

I was still suspicious and uncertain about the girl, about my sister. I had very little, if any, trust for her and if she proved to be anything like our mother, I doubt that would ever change.

However, although I had never invited her over again, she kept on turning up almost every day. She and Zane had really connected and formed a friendship and in-between his own problems, Will would strike up conversations with her. It was scary how well she had the ability to slide in and fit with the two boys. I was completely uncomfortable with the shifting dynamics that had become so routine, and I was even more uncomfortable with her presence.

My irritation towards her was accentuated when I walked into the comfortable scene of the two boys I lived with, along with the addition of my sister, lounging around, deep in conversation in the lounge room. It just irked me.

"Hey Tam? Around what time are you planning on leaving?" I questioned curiously as I walked over to the fridge, not interrupting the other three until I had raised my question aloud.

She looked over her shoulder at me, pulling herself up against the back of the lounge a little to assumably allow herself to have a more comfortable view. "Um, hadn't really thought about it. Maybe around 5-ish? Just depends on what bus I want to catch home."

"Not soon enough…" I sighed under my breath, but evidently audibly enough for the other three that I shared a room with at the present time to hear.

Tam's eyes flashed with a moment of shock and hurt, before the strength of her gaze quickly increased within seconds.

"That was a bit rude, Rikki…" Zane warned while Will on the other hand didn't say a word, simply looking up at me, before getting up and walking over to the bench that I was hovering around. "Rikki. Follow."

I sighed under my breath and took a few heavy, begrudging steps that followed in the direction of the blonde who led us to another room which I was assuming was for the purpose to talk privately. Just what I felt like. Great.

"Rikki? What's your problem with Tam? Sure, your last comment was uncalled for, but I can't remember one time when you _haven't_ been icy or cold towards her."

I looked away with a determined pout. I did not need to answer to Will. Not only was it not any of his business, but I also didn't want it to be.

"I'm waiting…" he warned, crossing his arms as he stood up straighter, giving off the body language that combined with his words firmly meant that he wasn't going to be rushing away anywhere in a hurry and that he was not planning on giving up anytime soon.

"Just because she's my sister, it does _not_ mean that I have to like her. Nor does it mean that I have to be forced to have anything to do with her."

I watched as Will's arms remained crossed, but he slowly leant back towards the wall. "She's your family, Rikki. Sure your mum might not of told you about her, but at the end of the day, it doesn't change the fact that she's your sister."

"I know that, but I've lived the rest of my life just fine without her, so why would I all of a sudden want her in my life or need her now? I don't see a reason for the need to change things."

"Well why _shouldn't_ things change?"

I took a frustrated step away from him. "Stop hassling me, Will! I know where you're coming from with this. Now that you know about Allie, you think that you shouldn't push family away, blah blah blah. That's you. You're situation is a lot different to mine, incase you didn't realize. Allie's your child, but Tam's my sister. You have a responsibility, but I have a choice."

I wasn't prepared to plead my case against him unnecessarily anymore. My excuses were becoming flimsy, but I wasn't planning on explaining the full reason behind my desire to have nothing to do with my younger sister.

In all honesty, it wasn't Tam. Well it was to a degree, considering that I didn't even want to give her a chance due to the risk of trust, especially given the history. The deeds that my mother, our mother, had done were inches away from unforgiveable. Money isn't everything, but being so selfish to the two people that you were supposed to love more than anything else in the world, that was heartbreaking. I could live with my upbringing that was based around dad and my financially unstable life, but keeping a sister from me and keeping our family apart was worse. I didn't want to even acknowledge it anymore, it was easier to shy away from the fact. Tam might be nothing like mum, or she could be a replica who's walked in her footsteps. The fact of the matter was that I could not trust anything affiliated with my mother. That was where my trust for her was completely broken away and eroded. I don't think that there was even enough there for a trust for Tam to even slowly grow over time.

I was ready to walk out the door when he stopped me by continuing to speak and fight for his reasoning's and belief in family.

"Give her a chance, Rikki. If she doesn't prove herself worthy, then no one can blame you for not wanting to have anything to do with her. But _she_ came chasing after _you_, so surely that's something to go off – it means that its something she wants, so she'll probably work for it."

"Well Mum didn't feel the need for us to be together and didn't have a problem with keeping her from dad and I, so why should I?"

He sat there seriously with a deep gaze, watching me for a minute until he bit his lip, which prompted more talking. "It's about your mum, isn't it? _You_ don't want anything to do with _Tam_ because _your mum_ didn't want anything to do with _you_…"

I walked out of the room. In all honesty, Will wasn't the sort of guy to notice and piece things like this together quickly. He was naïve and quite often overlooked major facts in his attempt to reason about the target that was always his aim. However, much to my lack of luck, Will had hit the nail on the head in this instance.

"You know what?" Will offered quickly, likely in an attempt to delay my exit. "I could be annoyed with you -you _and_ Bella- for hiding Allie from me, but I forgave you. Now before you say anything, I realize that neither of you are my _mother_, but you're both girls that mean a lot to me and you both betrayed me about one of the hugest matters that you could."

"Wow Will – we're so similar. Is there anything else you have done that you want me to deal with in the same way that you have, considering that we're basically one-in-the-same now?" I retorted to him sarcastically, not acknowledging his reasoning or his forgiveness on purpose.

"Fine, I give up. Sorry for trying."

I thought that I was going to be the one to bail on Will first at some point during our discussion, but he proved me wrong as he walked out of he room, shaking his head lightly at the same time.

Being left alone, I considered my options as to what next. I could sit out there, doing nothing with the others, but given the other events of today along with my dislike for certain people, I decided to make a coffee to take upstairs, planning to attempt to make a dent in the mass of work that was awaiting in my room with the decreasing time before completion was needed.

Walking into the lounge room, I walked straight passed the trio that were sitting together, all fiddling around and doing goodness knows what -not that I really cared- on their phones.

Reaching the bench, my reasonability disintegrated slightly more as my annoyance was pricked while I remembered all of the times that I had needed to remind the boys especially, as well as Tam about glasses.

"Tam..." I muttered under my breath, with the purpose of letting out a small portion of the steam within me, but it obviously came out louder than I had been intending after two heads looked over In my direction. "How many times to do I have to say about putting your glasses that you've used over _there_, instead of on this bench where we expect them to be clean?!" I snapped. Speaking hastier than I had planned, too.

This resulted in a typical roll of Tam's eyes that I was becoming accustomed to even after the few short weeks that I had known of her and the even less time that I had spent around her.

I stood there, arms crossed and shooting glances from where the other two were sitting back over to the glass. I tried to make it as clear as I could that I wasn't impressed and that I was waiting for the action to be corrected.

However, it was not the younger blonde who got up and moved away from her seat to correct her action. Instead, it was Zane.

"Sorry, Rikki… _I_ must have forgotten."

My lips tightened and the seriousness of my gaze intensified. I hoped that they were two controllable actions that would counteract the shade of crimson that was in the early stages of flooding my pasty-skinned cheeks.

I had not quite recovered from my momentary lapse of embarrassment before Zane moved the cup over to the bench that I was talking about, shooting me a look that I couldn't mistake for anything other than: "_are you happy, now_?", before Tam jumped into the confliction during a weaker moment of mine.

"Rikki? Can I just ask why you're so quick to judge me? You always blame me first."

I debated a few reasons mentally, along with the option of just ignoring her all together and leaving the room without my coffee that had been my initial intention of entering the area that I really hadn't wanted to reside in in the first place. "I just figured that you still weren't up to speed with the way things work around here."

"But it's not just because of that, is it? What's your problem with? Tell me instead of being a brat who's ready to blame me for everything at the drop of the hat."

Once again today, I had another opportunity to just walk off ignorantly but I steered away from that option. If she wanted a confrontation, that is what she would get. I mean what was the worst that could happen? I would offend her so terribly and she'd turn out to be such a sensitive individual that she didn't bother coming back? As far as I was concerned, it was a win-win situation.

"Well I'm sorry that I have such a short fuse around you, Tam. What can I say, you bring the worst out in me. It's a good thing that you weren't around when we were younger."

I watched her face twitch with a tinge of hurt from the comment, and it was at that point that I realized what a walkover this was going to be. Being _my_ sister, I had initially expected her to try and put up a bit of a fight but I realized the fact that she was weak and that she was around six years my junior. If she hadn't of asked for the confrontation, I would have backed away now feeling like a bully.

"It would be a time thing. If we had known each other growing up, we would be used to it."

"But we're not. So, perhaps mum was right for leaving and keeping you away."

There was no response once again and she let her second expression of hurt and weakness shine through, which was never a good idea to do in front of an opponent. In the time that she took to respond, I started to sympathize and feel sorry for her, so I turned around and started walking out of the room in the opposite direction to where Tam hadn't shifted from her standstill. I was waving the white flag as a peace offering, surrender, but it was refused.

Tam caught my attention with seven short words, similar to Will's as he had worked the same thing out earlier. I stopped on the spot, turning around after she spoke.

"This is all about mum… Isn't it?"

I didn't respond. I couldn't say no, I didn't want to say yes and it was too late to turn around and leave the question in the room like how I had attempted to end the discussion with her just mere minutes earlier. However, this time, it was Tam who seized _my_ moment of weakness and ran with it.

"That is unbelievable!" Tam spat disgustedly, making no confusion of how she felt. That girl really needed to work on her poker face. "I thought that you, you more than anyone else would understand, Rikki. You're just as bad as she is!"

"How? How am I possibly like mum?!" I screeched at her in response to the low-blow claim that she had just hit me with. "I wasn't going to say it, but the entire time you've been here, you have reminded me of _her_! But obviously you don't have the same tact that I do!"

Another expression that conveyed her reaction perfectly screened across her face, as it became flooded over with a level of rage that I had never seen from her before, nor had I deemed it likely to see.

"HOW DARE YOU COMPARE HER TO ME! WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?!" she screamed at me hysterically, completely losing her cool as she took a step that could be compared to a leap closer towards me, taking a breath to calm herself before I quickly started to speak.

"You're a spoilt brat! You got mum and you both had all the money! You get sick of mummy dearest so try to add a bit of drama to your life by looking for your older sister. I'm not interested in your little games."

It was at this point that the two boys who were silently sitting nearby and flying under the radar tried to intervene and add a smidgen of peace to the argument. Neither of us took it, that was the one thing Tam and I agreed on.

"You obviously don't know anything about me, then. Now I'm sorry to ruin your fantasy of our life… I don't know what sort of person she was with you, but she is everything I don't want to be. I apologize for the fact that you think that **you've **lived such a hard done by life and woe-is-you for having to be frugal and save your cents because you lived with dad, Rikki, but really you should be counting your grateful blessings. I would have given up _anything_ to have that life and be in your shoes. That's why I'm here now, not because of whatever petty game it is that you think I'm playing!"

Tam was furious. It was not hard to tell and I had no privileged knowledge of that fact against the boys, just because I was her sister… Her rage was just written all over her face. I was tempted to make a teasing comment, just to work her up even more about my claims that she was insisting were so far from the truth, but I decided against that option after I noticed how distressed she was becoming.

Instead, I kept quite and bite my tongue just in case my common nature could not control an offensive comment from slipping out. Turns out that I didn't even need to talk after she continued standing up for herself, appearing to lose control of what she was saying from her increasingly hasty manner of speaking her mind.

"For my entire life, I knew that I had a dad and a sister out there, and I've been desperate to meet both of you for as long as I can remember. Our aunty would tell me bits and pieces about you two, but as soon as mum found out, she stopped letting her see me because she didn't want you guys to know about me and take me away from her. The bits that I did know were that although you two had bad money problems, you were extremely close. I wanted that so much and it was only after dad died that mum let her tell me that. All my life, I wanted to be you, Rikki, but now I just want to know you."

"At least you were one up on me. I never knew you existed, neither dad or I did."

She shrugged appearing to calm down minimally before speaking again. "Nothing you two could help or avoid… how were you supposed to know?"

At this stage, I was attempting to characterize and understand Tam. Despite open-attitude and honesty towards everything, she was still a complete mystery to me. It was intriguing and since standing up for herself, she had caught my interest.

At this point, I couldn't decide whether she had proven herself to be an optimist, pessimist or a realist. Knowing that, I believed that I would have a better insight into her, her attitude to life and whatever problems she was slowly eluding to and revealing regarding her life growing up with mum. It was one of the outstanding qualities that I first liked to learn in people to understand them better. Dad had always told me that there were three types of people in the world and now, that was a concept that I believed too.

All of my friends, boyfriends, family, colleagues, everyone, I would categorize. Take for example, the girls. Cleo was difficult. She was such an intense and emotional person that her views would rely strongly on the situation. One minute she would be in ultimate positivity, but the second something went bad, her entire attitude would be downcast and pessimistic. Interestingly, Bella was much like Lewis, in that manner. Both were positively inclined, similarly to Cleo, but when it came to the crunch, the two could see the full picture and dealt with that in a realistic manner. Next was Will - a clear-cut realist. He could see the full impact of what was going on and his attitude to the big picture altered accordingly, if there was a reason to be negative when times weren't going to improve, he would do that, but if there was cause for a positive outcome, once again he would react with that attitude. Then there was Zane. This had been one of our few compatible points when we were together… We were both pessimists that didn't shy from embracing the negativity of a situation. Him more so than me, but I guess we could relate to each other with our view of the world. We weren't fooled. We knew and had experienced the hard way that all that glitters isn't gold, from two completely opposite ends of the scale.

At this stage, I was leaning somewhere between believing that she was a optimist or a realist. In fact, regardless what sort of persona she had, she was putting up a fight and slowly gaining my respect I must admit. People who stand their ground have always impressed me and this occurrence was no different, only my connection to this individual was.

"Why do you have such a big problem with mum? If anything, I thought that I should be the grudge-holder, Tam. At least you had her."

"I had what? Had mum? No. I had a mother, not a mum. _We_ weren't any better off than you ever were financially. What made you think she would change her ways from being a mother who neglected her first daughter? Any money we do rack up goes straight towards the booze or the pokies. If I want a 'new' piece of clothing from the Op shop or food other than the shelter stuff, I would have scrounge around for a couple of dollars or find my owns way of earning money. But hey, if you want that life with mum so much, be my guest, just don't ever accuse me of being like her."

With those final, hard-hitting words, Tam turned around and walked straight out of the room appearing to be headed in an unwavering direction towards the front door. After she had walked away, a space where she had been standing was made vacant and I could suddenly see the two boys again, instantly seeing their expressions that translated to open-mouthed shock. They weren't the only ones.

"Rikki! We have a spare room! Aren't you going to do or say something to her?! She's your sister – she can't live like that!"

I let out a pent-up sigh and made the split second decision that I doubted I would be able to go back on, following her out of the house and walking down the street until I caught up with her, calling out her name to slow her down.

"Tam… Wait up."

She stopped on the spot and turned around to face me behind her with one swift movement, so fast that her currently ponytail-styled hair would have caused whiplash. "What? Did you think of another point that you want to argue against me about? I'm not especially in the mood for it anymore… Just leave it be. You win, I win, whatever."

"No. I think I want to ask you whether you want to stay with us for a while, well the boys did. And I mean you really don't have to but I guess it's the right thing for me to do if your living situation is as bad as you say it is…"

She looked straight at me in shock for a few moments before her face lit up in a smile.

Although the boys had laughed with her during the times that she'd just sort of found her way to our house to spend time with me (for me to only dump her on Will and Zane), none of that laughter and none of those smiles seemed as true or genuine as the one I was given then.

"Thank you, Rikki. Thank you so much."

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><p>After the two of us had made our way back up the street together, the boys took her under their wing once again, introducing her to her room along with more intricate details and rules of our household, so I snuck off to my room with the excuse of nearing a work deadline that needed more progress to be made on it.<p>

However, later that night when I came out of the room to refill my bottle of water, I was anything _but_ prepared for the situation of two heads of people who were sitting together on the lounge, locked in a kiss.

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><p><strong>I'm DYING to know what everyone's thoughts of Tam are now because she's been about a 5050 split with reviewers. Half like or don't mind her, while the other half don't trust her. Whose view do YOU have? Rikki's side or Zill's side? All I can say is that if I thought writing Rikki/Will/Zane was fun, I didn't know the fun I was getting myself into by adding Tam to the mix! **

**Oh, and I have exciting news. This week, I planned the rest of this story (about another 15 chaps so we're a long way off yet)... Along with... A sequel! **

**Next chapter: Aftermath of the kiss. Relationships, boundaries, loyalties, trust and morals are all questioned. Meanwhile, Zane makes a confession of his own. (Originally the next chapter was supposed to be Cleo-centred, but she's been pushed to the chapter after for the sake of continuity, sorry Clewis fans!)**

**Don't forget those reviews ;)**


	23. A Kiss Is Just A Kiss

**I was wanting to update this much sooner, but I've been caught up in year 12-ness and all my spare non-school/work/homework time has been going into friends and television shows! Seriously, between Home & Away/Revenge/Packed to the Rafters/Mr & Mrs Murder, you don't really have a legion of free time!**

**Anyway, I despise shout-outs, completely, but there is just one incredible and totally understated author on this website. She doesn't receive nearly as many reviews or readers as she should and it's such a shame (I must admit, I'm a slacker). However, aussiebabe290 (check my favourite authors for a link)writes the most incredible FanFictions for so many amazing Aussie shows. If you're into Packed to the Rafters/Blue Water High/Home And Away/Pitch Perfect then CHECK HER PAGE OUT! There's just a never-ending stream of amazing storylines and talent from that girl and the stories have made me laugh out loud, break my heart and cry for the characters.**

**As-per-usual thank you from the bottom of my heart to all of my splendid reviewers and their opinions on the last chapter!**

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><p><strong>Chapter 23 – A Kiss Is Just A Kiss<strong>

_Zane's POV_

Breakfast had been quiet so far this morning… I'm sure that it had been seconds before the holocaust broke out too.

Rikki kept her head down as she barreled cereal into her mouth from her seat at the end of the table - her position that was only possibly coinciding with being nearest to the exit; the door. I know that Rikki had caught Tam and I lip-locked last night and had simply walked off, but I hadn't had a chance to explain the full story to Tam yet… The fact that her sister had seen us and that she wasn't the only Chadwick daughter that I had been involved with.

I mentally sympathized for Will who was sitting next to me as I observed his position… He was sitting closest to Rikki and in reachable range of being kicked, bitten or hit by the volatile blond.

Passed myself was Tam, who was thankfully at the opposite end of the table from Rikki considering that for the most part, Rikki's intense glare would probably have been enough to radiate off her and melt her younger sister. It also meant that Tam was sitting at an awkward angle away from me, making it easier to 'miss' or ignore her winks or whatever other flirtatious looks she was coming up with on the spot and sending my way.

Despite the most ideallic sitting positions, tension was thick in the air.

All four of us knew it, but not one of us wanted to question it. Bizarrely, it was easier sitting there in the silence and not knowing, just wondering what exactly everyone else was thinking and even more so how much and what everyone else _knew_.

So, instead of facing the answers of those questions, an awkward, silent mealtime was born.

During the few moments that Rikki stole her view away from the temptation of watching her breakfast cereal diminishing in size with each mouthful she consumed, I noticed that she would take it in turns shooting dirty looks to the other three occupants of the table, including myself.

Will, the poor fella, didn't quite know what was going on, but now was not the time that I was going to fill in the blanks for him. Instead, he just sat there suffering from the uncomfortable meal, in his own world of oblivion as to _why_ exactly it was so awkward and tense.

"So, have I missed something? Have you guys taken speechless oaths for the Forty Hour Famine?" Will piped up suddenly and within his two sentences, my sympathy for my mate disintegrated at the breaking of the ice that I knew would have been a hell of a lot easier staying in one piece.

"Dunno. You tell me... Finally decided to do something about Allie, have you?" I replied with an unnecessary personal turnaround for Will, but I knew that my comment would have been as equally effective as it was harsh. The comment caught Rikki's attention, henceforth raising her head in interest for a rare occasion. In contrast, Tam looked up and shot Will an opposing puzzled look of confusion.

At least my short string of words worked to shut him up in my attempt to stitch the ice back together, but what sort of idiot am I to think that a piece of figurative string in the conversation would have stopped it from breaking apart again.

"Hold on, who's Allie?" Tam questioned as her furrowed brow gradually began to fade into normality once again. "I thought your girlfriend was A-"she started to say, listing off and cutting short a few female 'A' names as she tried to answer her own question.

"_Amy_, girlfriend. Allie, _daughter_" Will replied with a firm look that didn't give away much as he enunciated the difference between the girls in relation to Tam's question. It really looked like he was about to shut up again and leave the silence to return to it's initial state, before I realized that my ploy of quieting my friend down had worked all too well when he got up with his near-empty bowl, returning it to the kitchen before walking out of the room without another word.

My plan failed even more miserably as I had lost my lifeline of support from the room and all the while Tam, kept on asking the questions. "What's up with him?"

At this rate, if Tam kept her casual discussions up that could potentially lead into yonder and if Rikki's fuming look didn't soften at all I realized that I was going to need to at least start attempting to prepare myself for acceptance of my fate; knowing that there was a good chance that I could end up castrated by the end of the morning.

"He's got himself into a bit of a mess, it's a long story…" I tried to reason to Tam, without explaining the full story that I didn't even know how comfortable Will would be with me sharing.

All of a sudden, the unexpected happened. Rikki spoke, contributing to the conversation... Albeit with a comment that was really, _really_ unneeded. "Yeah he sure has worked himself into a real knot, hasn't he? I guess being a tool is catching up with him _so_ soon.

"I wouldn't call him a tool. A lot of _**time**_ went by _between_ Bella and Amy" I replied as I joined the trend that Rikki had started. The trend of our shared friend really having very little bearing on what we were actually saying to each other.

"No amount of time would make it less uncomfortable for _Bella_ having her _ex_ and her friend together even more so being rubbed right in front of her face ALL. THE. TIME."

I gave her a puzzled look, half-questioning whether she was really having a go at me in the discrete way that I was attempting to defend myself through our coded talk. "Hold on, how would you know whether she's seen them together or not since they've been dating? The Goldie's a pretty big place."

"Well isn't it funny how people can find out _things_ when other people don't realize they can _see_."

Okay, I was definitely right the first time. Our argument had _everything_ to do with ourselves and absolutely _nothing_ to really with do with Bella, Will, Amy or whoever else we had mistakenly pulled into our argument.

"Maybe other _people_ should mind their business and stop meddling in _other_ people's lives when it doesn't concern _them_."

Rikki stood up definitively blasting both myself and Tam, giving her younger sister who had somewhat tuned out of the conversation that she had interpreted naïvely as Rikki and I _really_ discussing Will's troubles. "WELL IT'S A LITTLE BIT HARD FOR ME TO MIND MY OWN BUSINESS WHEN THE PAIR OF YOU WERE SLOBBERING AND MAKING OUT ALL OVER THE LOUNGE!"

I looked between the girls. If steam coming out of ears was a literal metaphor, then Rikki would have resembled a boiling kettle, while Tam on the other hand looked like a deer caught in the headlights.

"You, you saw that?" Tam questioned softly with humiliation that was written all over her from shade of red that she was transforming into.

"Well you guys didn't seem to care who saw you yesterday…"

I rolled my eyes, directed at one of the sister's, more so than the other. "A kiss is just a kiss, Rikki. It was just a bit of fun, get over it!"

I had missed the slight change of Tam's expression as I turned to realize that her already embarrassedly flushed face had sunk a little more before she confirmed my statement. "Yeah of course."

"See?" I questioned hypothetically, pointing my hand in the direction of the younger girl who had been the last to speak.

"Yeah, Rikki. Sorry" Tam said feebly and unconfidently, a side that we had rarely seen from the cocky teenager, who strangely would only ever flit into that mood at certain points around her sister. "Anyway, I should go have a shower while it's free…"

After speaking, Tam didn't linger any longer than she had needed to before scurrying off upstairs and leaving a fuming Rikki and myself together in the lounge room. We both stayed there silently, not moving, not talking after Tam left the room. Finally, after what felt like it was nearing 12 months, Rikki moved as she peered around the corner, allowing her visual access passed the doorway arch with a clear view all the way over to the stairs where she remained her watch for a minute before she returned to looking at me.

"What the hell were you thinking, Zane?! Are you crazy?"

"Yes, Rikki. I'm a crazed, serial killing kisser… I managed to escape from my straitjacket, then I walked all the way back to the house. The knife is under my bed."

She rolled her eyes as she crossed her arms over her petite waist, her little tolerance for me evidently beginning to wear thin. "Shut up… I'm the one with the Certificate in Sarcasm here. Seriously though, what did you think that you were doing kissing Tam?"

"I don't know, but then again, I don't want to justify myself for kissing your sister, to _you_. This is just getting kind of awkward."

"You should of thought of that before now. She's underage, Zane! Who knows how volatile or sane Tam is… She's a complete stranger, to all of us! Including you! Do you have _any_ idea what extent of trouble you would be in if she's a loony and makes up some story about you? Crying wolf about harassment, or rape even?! That, with your other good behavior bond and your criminal record, well you might as well be Carl Williams… Who knows, you might never get out like he didn't either..."

Well… If Rikki had been hoping to knock a little bit of sense into me, she sure had been using some darn effective measures of doing so. I had to hand it to her. But just because I could _see_ her point, that never meant that I was going to just yield to her suggestions without a fight and an attempt of self-justification. That was not the way we rolled…

"Don't you think you're jumping the gun a bit? Who's to say Tam's a psycho? She has not made _one_ move that would even make me think twice about her being a mental nut job. I mean I know that being your sister, anything's possible, but…"

There was the loud cracking noise of a slap that filled the room, like that of the painful slap of skin falling into water, hard. The sound was the first sense that I recognized before seconds later the sting set in. I knew I deserved her slap on the arm, I was almost expecting it, but that hard?

"All I _know_ is that she fancies you… I can tell. And she seemed disappointed when you just waved the kiss off like it was nothing just before. And a woman scorned, is well, anything."

I shrugged it off. "I'll have a talk to her, but a kiss is just a kiss from where I'm standing."

"Try telling her that. The only thing that I'm warning you of is not to get too close to her, Zane. We don't know her and we have no reason to trust her, her actions or intent yet. Just be wary."

With that, Rikki left the room, walking out without another word to me.

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><p>Later that day, Will and I were outside on the pool lounges for the pool that we didn't own, sitting there doing nothing. No eating and no drinking, -surprisingly enough- no talking, no anything. We were highly representative of two guys with way too much time on our hands.<p>

"I _seriously_ have stuff I could be doing right now" Will mumbled, regrettably bursting our little silence-bubble for the second time today all the while making the even more criminal move of bringing consciences, which I was trying to ignore, into it.

However, just because you know something or feel guilty about something, doesn't mean you are inclined to do anything about it, as Will obviously proved by his failure to move a single muscle.

"Shut up… Get rid of your inner do-gooder, or leave me alone. It's a guilt-free zone out here. Choice is yours."

There was a few minutes of silence and I found myself getting a little too relaxed as my eyes pushed for closure while I assumed the fact that Will had chosen to remain in my company. Although enjoyable, I could just feel a little sense of something about the silence not being quite right and I pushed against the temptation of closed-eye relaxation to glance over at my mate who looked as tense as a businessman fighting against the risk of the bear stock market. "Fine, Will. Talk if it'll get it off your chest."

"Talking's going to do about as much good as just sitting here will do. So unless you want to find a job for the least employable guy on the Gold Coast or be a better boyfriend who actually makes some effort with my girlfriend, let me know, otherwise lets shut up about me."

I laughed off his comment before making my reply to him. "Yeah… how about no? I have enough of my own stuff to deal with."

"Swap with you?"

"Go for it. Have fun dealing with _two_ Chadwick girls."

There was yet another brief silence before I turned to look at Will again, whose expression evolved from puzzlement to realization within the span of time that I was watching him.

"What have you done this time, Zane?" Will sighed. "Has this got anything to do with the Ice Age over breakfast?"

"Well, that is quite likely..."

He smirked to himself as he shook his head. "Come on... Out with it. I feel like I'm the only one not in the know. What happened?"

"Well, the concise version is that Rikki saw Tam and I kissing, Rikki isn't happy and doesn't trust me to trust her and is basically cranky about the whole thing in general. That's why she pulled you into the conversation at breakfast the way that she did. Sorry about that anyway, mate. I think what she was referring to sort of went over you and Tam's heads for different reasons."

You know how I mentioned that Will and I were drink-less at the present time, well I think that is a good thing. I genuinely believe that my blond companion would have either choked on, or spat a mouthful of drink out judging by the look on his face as his jaw hit the ground of the patio.

"What?!" he questioned with the shock written all over his gob smacked face. "You and Tam? Are you for real?! Where the hell did that come from?! No wonder Rikki lost the plot this morning!"

"That's the thing. I don't think there even is a Tam and I. Like we just kissed; end of story."

"Unless you were both intoxicated, there's never really an end of story that easily I don't think. Like, does Tam see it that way?"

I shrugged. So much for the whole silence and forgetting about everything thing… "I haven't got a clue. By the sounds of what she was saying, she didn't really care. She's just a kid… Rikki thought that she liked me, but I don't think so. Mind you, I don't think _Tam_ even knows what Tam was thinking, let alone what inspired the kiss in either of us."

"What about you? Before or after the kiss, did _you_ feel anything for Tam?"

Shaking my head, I shrugged my shoulders not caring all that much. "Nah… She's a cool girl and everything, but there's nothing there. She's way too young."

Will nodded in acknowledgement and although a silence followed our discussion, my mind was far from being sound. Next, it was _me_ who didn't know where the inspiration for my words and the action which followed it to blurt everything out while on the topic was coming from.

"But do you know what, Will? I'm pretty certain that this just about defies all sanity and sense, me even telling you this does" I said, stopping midsentence, realizing just how stupid it, not to mention the fact that I was telling about it Will was. Unluckily enough for me though, I must have caught Will's attention just enough to perk his interest and now I knew he was going to be like a dog with a bone until I concluded my thoughts to him verbally.

"You can't stop there Zane! What were you saying? Keep going..." he encouraged.

I sighed and figured that if I was going to tell anyone, it was going to be him. Besides, I knew just how relentless and stubborn Will was in scenarios like this and it would either be tell him of my own will and accordance _or_ alternatively I could wait while he prepared my shallow grave until I told him. However, as I imagined the worst of my friend's forceful actions of torturously prodding me to tell him, I had not heard the telltale sign of someone else joining us outside…

A fact that I was only to discover after the cat was well and truly out of the bag.

"If anything, I think I still have feelings for Rikki, or whether its just memories that are just making it feel like something's still ignited there, or I don't know…"

The reaction that I was expecting to presented with as I looked over to my friend was Will's. Not Tam's. Swinging my head around to behind our chairs, I saw the shock that was written and translated all over Tam's face and expression.

"Wait, what? You were with Rikki?"

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><p><strong>And there we have it boys and girls, another chapter in this particular story. There was a few comments about the sequel which I mentioned in my last AN, but although I'm getting plans for it sorted and I'm starting to get really excited it about it, the sequel is still a fair way off and the final chapter of Far From Perfection is planned to be at around chapter 40. Our H2O friends still have a lot let in their first far from perfect journies. Nonetheless, planning the sequel is still in the works!**

**Anyway, I'm sure there's probably a few of you that are a bit weirded out by the whole Rikki & Zane AND Tam & Zane thing, but in all honesty, I think it's more normal than not. I know that with myself and my sister we've had a few little crushes on the same guys/celeb or we can understand where the other one is coming from with the appeal of guys. I've heard the same thing with lots of my friends with sisters too. So surely sisters must be genetically wired with attractions to certain guys or features! Well Rikki & Tam are anyway. Not so sure about men...**

**Still love knowing your opinions on all things Far From Perfection or related information! So be little darlings and please leave me a review. **

**Cheerio! I'm off to the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang play. Front row seats to the adaption of my favourite childhood movie AND a San Churro date? Yes please. **

**Next chapter: ****Amongst being eaten alive by guilt, Cleo gets a surprise that might just help her with getting through until Lewis wakes up. **


	24. Spark Of Life

**Hey all. Sorry it's been a bit longer than I've wished in between updates but it was important to me to get ahead with writing the next two chapters that follow this one before updating. Anyway, it's up now and I really, really hope you enjoy it!**

**Big thanks to all the reviewers of the last chapter... Now am I going to get to the big 4-0-0 mark after this chapter? Wow, 400's (even 389 is!) a REALLY big number... I would give up before counting to that figure, ha ha. So really, THANK YOU to each and everyone who has persisted, hung in there and given me advice of the first 24 chapters of this.**

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><p><strong>Chapter 24 – Spark of Life<strong>

_Cleo's POV_

Opening my eyes from yet another uncomfortable catnap, the first thing that I looked over to out of my new founded habit, was Lewis. No change and no movement. He hadn't changed or moved since the entire time that he'd been in the hospital, which was coming up for a fortnight. Since the diagnosis, he'd been in an induced coma until his body was strong enough to wake up and deal with this huge obstacle that had been dumped down in front of our lives.

I'd found it hard and didn't deal with the change well for the first few days, but now, spending my days at the hospital was becoming familiar and settling… spending my entire day there, sitting and waiting until I was dragged away from his room by one person or the other. I could deal with the boredom, the lack of change. Right now, I deemed it the easiest option. To me, it was almost like a comfortable routine in this deluge of uncertainty and depth of scary unpredictability.

Although I wanted him to wake up and be cured more than anything else, I was petrified by the prospect of Lewis waking up.

Now, I could fool myself into the idea that he was just sleeping and that he was doing well like the doctors were telling me, but when he woke up, that would be a very different story. No one knows how extensively the Guillain-Barre will have affected his physical and mental capacities, and I was scared witless for those questions to be answered.

"Kim and I have to head off for a while, sweetheart, but I'll be back later with Sam. Are you alright here on your own for a little while?" Dad, who I had almost completely forgotten I was sharing the room with, asked as he pressed a kiss on the top of my head from where I was sitting down on the chair closest to Lewis' bed while he prepared to leave the room.

"I'll be fine, dad. Bye" I muttered with a sigh, speaking the most words that I had all day, but preparing myself for the upcoming hours of solitude.

I sat up a little more in my seat, finding a comfortable position as I leant over to the hospital bed from my seat. I took a hand of my unconscious husband's and held it securely with two hands. Although it broke my heart knowing what Lewis was in for, that both of us were, before our lives returned to how they had been before this, part of me couldn't wrap my head around how sick Lewis was…

Aside from the horrendous memory of waking up after a fight to the fact that Lewis couldn't move, Lewis looked no different. Lying on the bed, eyes shut, all day every day… he still looked like Lewis. He looked just like he would if he'd had a big day at work and came home to crash and have a nap on the lounge. He looked just like the Lewis who'd be lying there asleep in our bed if I'd gone to bed later than he had. But Lewis wasn't that simple now.

I know that the fight before all of this was of less than mediocre importance now, but it crushed me to know that one of Lewis' last memories of what happened when he was conscious and before the Guillain-Barre had reared its ugly head and really presented itself through the night, was us fighting. A fight he'd tried to fix and make an attempt to resolve which I'd ignored accidentally, all through the matter of a misunderstanding.

That fight, his last memories, was one of the things that kept going over and over in my head. Why had I been so stupid to of worked late that day, in avoidance of returning home, thinking that the sequel of our fight would have been continued? I should have remembered and realized whom it is that I'm married to. Lewis was the classic example of someone being a lover, not a fighter. I felt completely terrible... like I had completely let him down when little did either of us know that was when he needed me most.

I would have continued to let my guilt and my thoughts eat me alive if it wasn't for a knock on the door.

I knew that it wouldn't have been family; they were used to just barging in and the nurses were getting pretty good at that too. Everyone had tiptoed around me when Lewis had first been admitted, but now it was almost becoming normal. Life was settling down, everyone was adapting back to their usual selves – but Lewis wasn't awake. I couldn't possibly acknowledge life as the normal that everyone else was beginning to.

"Come in" I said instantly, but unenthusiastically before I turned around to see Rikki standing in the doorway.

"You need to work on your 'welcome home' skills, miss" was the cryptic reply that I heard from a familiar voice, but a voice that certainly didn't belong to my expectation of Rikki.

"Emma?" I squeaked out of surprise as the familiar blonde that I hadn't seen in over a year, since my wedding day and on much happier terms.

My disbelieving question was responded to by being wrapped in a warm hug; an action that I had become more than accustomed to receiving since Lewis had been taken to hospital. However, this hug was a different sort of comforting, it was an unexpected warmth that had come from a surprise, instead of duty. A little reminder that people, other than my family and direct friends, still cared for Lewis and I, and not just as a burdening requirement to support me.

It was just a little reminder that people were willing. Willing to travel across the globe for us. I was grateful, undoubtedly, for everyone's care and effort that they had shown, everything they had done for me especially, but I was beginning to sense they were getting just as tired as I was. Mentally weighed down, and Lewis and I were the source of that burden.

"I am so sorry that I haven't been able to make it over sooner. Rikki called me a few days ago about Lewis, but I was tied down and couldn't leave the country for a few days. Has there been any change? And what about you? How are _you_?"

I shrugged as she clutched my arm sympathetically, supportively. "You know… As good as can be expected I guess…"

"Oh Cleo. You guys don't deserve this, but I know you and Lewis are strong enough to get through it."

"I hope so."

Her mouth tightened, a look that even despite the time and distance that had between us for so many years, I could tell meant that my close friend was thinking. However, whether I liked or disliked what she was thinking about was yet to be proven.

"I was thinking," she informed me unnecessarily, simply proving that I had nailed the body-language-reading test as she tightened her grasp on my arm just slightly for comfort. "Do you want to go for a walk along the beach? I think you need to get out of here. You've been here for days, haven't you?"

"Yeah" I sighed, cryptically answering her question, although not providing her with any distinguishable points that would enable her to readily interpret the word I uttered. Normally, I would have been quick to explain myself, bring Emma back up to speed, but lately I'd lost a lot of enthusiasm for a lot of things. The hospital has the capability of emotionally and mentally draining you, without your even realizing it.

"I was hoping that you would say that" she replied, obviously not even needing my refined translation, not releasing her grasp that she had on my arm, just accentuating it as she lead me out of the room, with Rikki following close behind.

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><p>The drive from the hospital to the beach was not that far, and it seemed even shorter due to my familiarity of both destinations. Most of the trip, Rikki and Emma talked like two Italians passionately watching Eurovision, but every now and then I noticed Emma's brief sideward glances in my direction as the car continued on it's rough course from Rikki's appalling driving.<p>

Normally Surfer's Paradise was the place to go. When it had been the three of us, Rikki, Emma and myself, we'd all liked the energy of the Gold Coast's most well known beach, but even by the time that Emma had traded places with Bella, the tradition was set and our course was always for the popular beach, unless we actually had the intentions of swimming. Even before Rikki, before our tails, Emma loved training at Surfer's Paradise while I equally enjoyed the energy of the beach from the spots I would sit and make myself comfortable on the sand to watch her from afar.

However, today was different. None of us had the intention of swimming, not now while Rikki and I made the most of talking to and soaking up the company of our friend, but yet we still didn't go to Surfer's. Perhaps the vibrant energy was unsuitable for us suddenly, but none of us questioned why or why not. It was like an unspoken agreement to spend as much time together as possible when I didn't even know how long Emma was down for… however long, deciding to spend it talking and catching up.

"Despite the terms" Rikki's glance grazed passed me in a momentary pause. "It's so great to see you again Ems. How long are you down for?"

"As long as I'm needed" Emma smiled, again using the pause to warmly look towards me. "I haven't booked a return ticket yet."

Despite both of my friend's efforts to at least make me feel included, I remained silent.

"So how is France anyway? Got the language under your smarty-pants belt yet?"

Emma laughed at Rikki's question, compliment and dig; all in one, and I couldn't help but smile. Aside from the terms and the subject matter, it was the exact manner of how our conversations were five years earlier. Before time, distance and age had rifted us from that time of our lives.

"Not quite. Nearly. There are still a few sentences I struggle with stringing together and remembering. France on the other hand is lovely… Flipping cold compared to the coast here, but I like it there."

"I seriously should come over for a Parisian holiday. I can hear the little poodles and croissants calling my name…" Rikki replied, as her voice trailed off to pack her bags at the idea.

Emma nodded enthusiastically at the idea, while I continued to happily take the backseat conversation-wise. "You should! And you know what they say, Paris is the city of love, Rikki. You might be able to bring more back to Aus than Eiffel Tower souvenirs and croissant-hips…"

"Meh" Rikki replied, with a brief wave of a hand, lacking care, over her shoulder before her face lit up with a smirk. "City of love? How is Ash by the way?"

Never being one overly fussed with her relationships, Emma waved Rikki's question off with a wave in a similar manner as Rikki herself had just seconds earlier. Those two were more similar than they'd ever like to admit. She was never one to go overboard in the highs and lows of relationships and kept a pretty sturdy balance throughout the course that she'd been with Ash. "He's fine. He was going to come with me, but he's just moved to a new job and didn't want to make a bad impression so early on."

"Well that's a bit boring" Rikki stated bluntly. "Trust you two workaholics…"

Emma burst out laughing which triggered a similar reaction in Rikki to laugh, then between the two of them created the contagious domino-effect of spreading to me. And I didn't stop it. I didn't even try.

Since Lewis had been admitted and hospitalized, every ounce of humour and happiness I had felt had felt wrong – like I was guiltily betraying him while he was missing out. It felt as if I wasn't allowed to enjoy myself while he was going through that… Could you blame me? But despite the niggling guilt in the back of my mind that wanted to prohibit me from it while Lewis was in the state that he was, for a few minutes there I was genuinely happy.

For just a moment, time could have been mistaken for being four or five years earlier; we could have been still in high school, Emma could have still been living the ten minute walk from the beach, Rikki still could have been living with her dad and I could have thought that Lewis was simply at his house, in his own world as he tried to invent products to make hiding the mermaid-side of our lives easier; not that he ever really perfected that technique in an invention.

As we happily stood there together, it wasn't even like Rikki had cracked one of her infamous jokes or anything, whatever she had said to Emma that had started her off with laughing was nowhere near the quality of her normal humorous material, but it was almost like I had reached breaking point of being able to contain and stop any happiness within myself.

Honestly, I think it was just being with the girls that had triggered the caving of my happiness walls that I had been trying desperately to ignore and build up as I stayed watching and waiting by my husband's bedside vigil.

However, it was right when I was living in the moment, enjoying myself that my guilt came crashing down on me again as I answered the phone call that I was receiving amidst laughs.

"Sweetheart, hi. Lewis has woken up."

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><p>Within minutes I was back at the hospital, likely having broken a few world records of distance to time ratio. With the other two girls trailing close behind me as I walked into the room, I knew that it would be startling to see Lewis awake, let alone in whatever state that he was in, but I think that I would have been able to handle that better than the sight of an empty bed.<p>

"Where is?!"

Before I had the chance to freak out and let my fears overtake me any more than what they already had, dad had wrapped me in his arms comfortingly. "Calm down Cleo… Don't worry. The nurses have just taken him out of the room –just then- to try and take a few more tests, assess any damage or changes now that he's awake.

I should have been ecstatic to know that he was awake, but internally there was a battle of my guilt and apprehension. What impact would the illness have on my husband that I knew and loved? Would Guillain-Barre have some sort of an amnesia-effect? Would he even remember me, know who I was? Could he walk? Hell, could he even move? But the flood of those questions bore no resemblance to the question that actually came out from my mouth.

"Was anyone with him when he woke?" I whispered, noticing the sensation of physical contact with the girls as one held my hand and the other's hand fell on my shoulder. However, their touch was of no consolation as I read my father's expression before he had even said the words that I was hoping were different from the ones that were written over his face, and I hoped that someone, anyone had been with him… His parents, my sister, the rowdy neighbor in our old apartment whom we had never met - anyone…

"No sweetheart. No, I don't think so" dad whispered softly and gently, in an attempt to try and dilute the guilty punch that his words delivered. "The nurse said that she had walked in to find his eyes open when she came in to do his obs."

I collapsed into the nearest chair, with tears fighting for presence from the thought of Lewis being there; finally awake, in a room that he probably had little idea of why he was in, with whatever physical inabilities the G.B.S had on his body… with no one and with no answers… He probably thought that I had given up on him... that everyone had given up on him. That no one loved him or cared for him enough to be there. Not even his wife. The thought, the simple possibility of him thinking that, killed me.

To add to the guilt was the waiting game. Waiting to know how he was, what he thought. How he felt… Whether or not he was okay…

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><p><strong>I really wanted to incorporate Emma in this chapter, but I don't think she's going to be around for very long unfortunately sorry. Perhaps more in the sequel, but I really couldn't think of many ways around it seeing as the planning and storylines are already very established for this story. It was just a little surprise for you guys as much as Cleo.<strong>

**Editing this chapter felt really bizarrely emotional for me compared to writing it (when I would normally get weighed down sadder themes in my work) seeing as a few days ago, I was at my grandfathers house and in his room I noticed a nearly 12-year-old calendar hanging there... I nearly laughed before realizing it remained on the month and year my grandmother passed away. Seeing that just drilled into me how absolutely horrible it is when illnesses threaten and tear apart true love, as with the case of Clewis.**

**Next chapter: With realization and comparisons weighing heavily on her, Bella makes a bold move with disastrous results. **


	25. Free To Choose

**Hi one and all, another chapter as you can see! ... After much debate over the content since I had a bit of trouble deciding just HOW much I was going to spill in this chapter, and just how much I was going to leave to unfold as it happens. **

**Anyway, I've just gotten back from one of the nicest holidays I've been on (I feel like I'm always blah-ing about holidays on here), but a SERIOUSLY cold one at that. I'm a wimp. I don't think the temperature got lower than 1 degree celcius at night, but for a sun-and-sand girl it was a massive shock to the system! I had around 3-4 layers of clothing on a lot of the time and a pre-requisite for going to bed was 2 jumpers and 2 pairs of socks over PJ's, with an electric blanket, and cuddles and two thick quilts. It was COLD!**

**Thanks to the chapter 24 R&R's... Enjoy this one and have a lovely day/night - I sure will be with about 4 hours of Home & Away to catch up on and a brand new onesie is calling my name to christen it!**

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><p><strong>Chapter 25 – Free To Choose <strong>

_Bella's POV_

"Hi, it's Amy. I can't come to the phone at-the-mo. Leave a message and if you're lucky, I'll call you back!"

I waited expectantly for a few moments, for the tone to follow it as I balanced my phone on my shoulder. My head was slightly tilted at a weird angle to keep the phone from slipping and falling to the tiled floor, allowing both hands to apply makeup appropriately while looking at my reflection in the mirror.

Bzzz.

"Hey Amy. It's Bella. I'm not going to be able to make it into work today, but would you please be able to forward on emails or message me if anything comes up. That way I can do the rest here. Hope it doesn't put you out too much. Thanks! Bye."

I ended the call and placed the portable home phone on the vanity bench next to the makeup bottles and brushes that I was using. Taking a deep breath, I looked up to ensure my façade, my cover, was acceptable and that the makeup kept the secrets of the deeper darkness and truths that my face had bore the brunt of.

Moisturizer, concealer and then foundation… Finish the layers off with some smoky eye shadow and there you have the killer combination for applying cover-up makeup.

Killer makeup was exactly what I needed since I hadn't got any sleep last night. That factor had only accentuated the bruising and bags under my eyes, which had developed overnight. I couldn't shut an eye in fear of the locked door somehow opening and thinking about or fearing the fact that I had nowhere to keep Allie safe and away from Daniel without _me_ being with her. I knew how angry he was with me…

I had no idea how I was going to get through tonight with him.

_**~24 Hours Earlier~**_

I was sitting on the seat at the end of the dining table, supervising Allie as she messily fed herself her usual apple-yoghurt breakfast. Really, I didn't _need_ to be supervising her the way I was, looking up from the article I was reading on the tablet every few seconds, but it was just a matter of falling into a habit. It was something that I was used to doing since she had started eating solid foods and even now that the toddler would insistently fed herself; I still couldn't get out of the habit of watching her. I had never been one for change.

Although the early morning was quiet, there was still noise in the room. The noise coming from the television was the most obvious as Allie half-watched Iggle Piggle from her highchair…The kettle was boiling on the other side of the room… The light hum of a police car was heard in the distance… However, it was the footsteps that came closer from the hallway that caught my attention.

"Good morning" I greeted as I looked over my shoulder to Daniel who was entering the large living area; a room that was unnecessarily large for just the three of us, resembling the rest of the home.

He walked passed us, ruffling Allie's messy bed-head hair that I hadn't had a chance to brush since she had woken up while declaring how hungry she was. He continued in his path, bending down momentarily and kissing my head on his way over to the lounge that he crashed on, looking over at the TV as if the Tumbliboo's were half-interesting for a twenty-five year old guy... A very different target audience, compared to one year olds, as my own let go of her spoon with her arms outstretched with a: "Mummy!" Her vocabulary and conversation skills still had a very long way to go, but any idiot could have understood what she wanted.

Unbuckling the little girl and lifting her out of the contained chair, I placed her on the ground as she toddled over to be closer to the lounge and Daniel. This time she tried for Dan's attention that even he understood, pulling my little girl onto the lounge with him.

"What's for breakfast, Bells?" Dan questioned from the lounge, looking over in my direction as I began cleaning up the mess that Allie had made while feeding herself her own breakfast.

"I don't know. I had breakfast ages ago" I replied honestly, having had breakfast hours ago, before Allie had even woken up.

"Well, what are _you_ making me?"

I sighed before replying. It was only a little thing. A little thing as stupid as who was making breakfast for who, but just lately it was the little things that I had been starting to take a notice of.

To rub salt in the wound, my memories just _had_ to trigger the reminder and comparison of my former boyfriend... Saturday mornings had always been Will's weekly treat to me, even when things in our relationship had been in the process of turning pear-shaped; it had still been a little tradition between us. It was no big deal or anything, it had only ever been a little thing back then too, but he would either make me breakfast on the Saturday morning, or we would head out to a café for a cooked breakfast.

It was the little things like Daniel's bordering-on-rude demands or the little commands that I had started to notice in contrast to Will's treats or little acts of kindness. It was those small differences between the two boys, the small comparisons that were beginning to make a big difference on the way that I saw Dan, and the love that I had had for him…

INSERT LINE HERE

A little later, I had just put Allie down for her midday nap and was returning back out to the lounge room, planning on checking my emails and getting a bit of work done from home while I had the child-free chance… However, entering the room, I immediately felt the sinking feeling that I _wasn't_ going to get work done for a while.

Daniel was standing in the corner of the room with one arm sitting loosely in front of his chest with his other hand holding his chin as he looked out on the urban view of the Gold Coast skyscrapers, seen from the large window near where he was standing... I could feel the tension, the heat, and not in a good way.

"Is something wrong?" I questioned with a puzzled half-smile to try and soften the mood, even though I somewhat feared the answer.

He didn't say a word, instead holding up my phone that had been hidden in the palm of his large hand. Across the room from him, I bit my lip, realizing what was coming before I could stop myself from displaying any fear. To make a stronger move of confidence, hoping to make up for my minor slip of the façade in my body language, I crossed my arms tightly in front of my arms.

"You missed a text when you were putting Allie to bed… Will, your EX-BOYFRIEND, messaged asking if you could give him some times that suits you for _him_ to see Allie. Why would he ask that Bella? Why would he ask to see who you said you convinced him to believe was _our_ daughter? Tell me that."

I looked over to him and I knew he knew. I knew he knew I knew. He knew that I knew that he knew.

There were no words that would stop, help or answer his questions... His questions weren't even for an honest answer; they were going to be to warrant the right for him to start yelling his head off at my lie that I had hid from him, for good reason.

"ANSWER ME BELLA!"

With a scream of anger he yelled after my failure to answer his question that he didn't need the answer to, letting go of my mobile phone and throwing it into the wall with a medley of shattering from the glass, the wall and his voice.

"Calm down…" I pleaded desperately, once again not giving him the answer that he wanted to hear. "Please Daniel. You're going to wake Allie..."

I'd expected another predictable response; another demand for the truth that he did not need. However he surprised me, instead taking a deep breath which accentuated his flaring nostrils and expanding eyes and henceforth vision as he slowly took a few steps closer to me... Our bodies neared, getting closer and closer together before he stopped on the spot.

"Tell. Me. Why" he whispered, sending the chill of shivers up my spine.

"I felt guilty, Dan! All the lies, how big what I was keeping from him, it really got to me… He has the right to know the truth and if he wants to know her, then that choice is out of our hands and it's up to him."

His face twitched and I could just sense that he was holding his anger in, thankfully, unless it was all to be released in a sudden outburst of rage. "You promised me that you wouldn't let this happen… You promised that you wouldn't let me lose her Bella! He's going to take her from me!"

"I really am sorry Daniel, but the fact is that no one - not you, not me - can do _anything_ about Will being her father and with that comes the right for him to know about Allie. I couldn't _not_ tell him the truth."

He rolled his eyes and edged back and forth from one unsettled foot to the other as he looked out, passed me and into the distance. "Well you did just fine not telling him for the last two years."

"That's different. I tried, but he wasn't in the picture and he refused all contact with me. You know all of this…"

"You're right" he scowled. "I do know all of this. But I also know that I told you not to tell him. And I know that you said that you wouldn't."

The harsh Daniel that I was being presented with at the moment reminded me once again of the comparison that I had made mentally, earlier today to the kinder Will…The two boys that I had compared to each other earlier this day. "Guess what? You're scared that _Will's_ going to want to be a part of Allie's life and that he's going to push you out, but you want to know what? You're doing a pretty good job of that yourself."

"What does that mean?! WHAT THE HELL IS-THAT-SUPPOSED-TO-MEAN?!" he yelled, blasting me, which for one of the first times gave me the strength and adrenaline to stand up for myself against him in contrast to feeling weaker and belittled by my boyfriend.

"It means that until you can respect _my_ decisions, stay away from _my_ daughter."

However, my sudden surge of confidence and strength vanished as the fight became physical. I had no hope against him… Before I knew it and with one swift movement, my chin was clenched tightly in the palm of one of his hands, forcing me to look straight up at him; I could feel how tight his grasp on my jaw was. "_You_ don't get the last word. Right?"

I knew that he wanted me to answer him. Part of me didn't want to answer him and give him the satisfaction, while I physically could not even answer him anyway due to his clenched force that stopped me from speaking.

"ANSWER ME!" he suddenly yelled, letting go of my chin and pushing both of his palms against my chest and collarbones with an almighty shove as he pushed me to the floor.

I knew the outburst was coming and in spite of the yelling I could hear, the pushes and hits that my body was copping physically, I had the inner peace of knowing that I had done the right thing. No number of punches or hits that Daniel threw could stop that for me paying for the lie.

For the first time in a long time, I had options, I had choices that had been borne from my first choice that I had broken out and made alone without Daniel's consent. It was going against him in the first place that had caused the realization of questioning what on earth I was doing here now.

Now, the most obvious part of our relationship, the love, was feeble at most. I loved the Daniel that I had first fallen in love with, but the monster that has only grown the last few months was not that guy. Not only did it feel like violent-Dan didn't love me, but it was blatantly obvious that he didn't even care about me if he was so quick to take his anger out on me. There was no mutual respect in our relationship either. That was one of the qualities that had brought us together… We knew and could relate to what each other had been through; we were both lonely and going through a tremendously hard time in our lives. But now, how could I respect someone I couldn't trust and how could he possibly respect someone and then treat them so badly?

Not that it was a motivator for loving Dan in the first place, but the financial-side was a perk of being with Daniel. Being a single mother with a newborn baby had been a huge stress financially when Allie was born, but within a few months of dating, Daniel had started helping out and I was more than happy _to_ not have the pressure of finance weighing me down. However, I had a better job now and at the end of the day, and just like it was never a reason for dating Daniel, it was not going to be the end of the world if I didn't have the financial backing from him anymore.

And the final matter that Daniel had provided me with was a father figure for Allie. That was what had inspired my change of heart in the first place. The 'figure' after the word 'father' diluted the word completely. Sure, Allie was way too little to understand the lie behind her father figure that she had only translated as being a father in her young age, but that one word changed the meaning entirely. There was no figure needed when the father was in the picture… when _he_ was the figure.

Of course, I could not completely trust the fact that Will wanted to be in her life or change his mind, but that was going to have to do for now. There was no need for Allie to have the father figure of Daniel when Will was around – there was never fully going to be a replacement for him.

I had made my choice with telling Will about Allie in the first place and now I finally realized that that wasn't the only choice I was free to make…

INSERT LINE HERE

"Hey Bella" Rikki answered within seconds of me making the phone call to her number.

"Hi. You busy?"

There was a mumbled groan over the line. "Uh… Yes and no. If you want me to do something, no, I'm at work, but if you're wanting to talk I can spare a few minutes."

"Work on a Saturday? Yuck. Anyway, talking's good. I'll keep it brief. I was just calling to check whether or not you're going to be home tomorrow? Like late afternoon?"

There was another noise, similar to that of the first of Rikki's. "Yeah. I've got nothing planned. Did you want to come over?"

"Yeah. I've got a really big favour to ask you…And Will… And Zane. Do you know whether or not they're going to be there too?"

"I don't know about the guys, sorry. They're not very good with talking or communicating on the plans front. I can text them if you like? Tell them not to make plans..."

I couldn't help but remember the aftermath of Will and I's last time communicated via text messages. I held out hope that it wouldn't be for much longer.

"That would be great, thanks a lot Rikki."

"Anytime, but what is this all about Bells? Is there something going on? Do you want to talk about it?"

I was tempted to just blurt it all out to my friend right there and then for advice. Was I doing the right thing? Was there some fatal flaw in my risky plan that I had overlooked? Would _I_ be able to make it and pull it off? Instead, I simply resisted the urge, pushed it aside. "Yeah, something like that. It's okay, I'll explain everything to all of you at the one time tomorrow."

"Alright. I'll check with the boys and let you know if one of them can't make it for a life-or-death situation, and even still, you know how persuasive I can be…"

I couldn't help but laugh over the line. In spite of the pressure and stress that felt as though it was weighing my shoulders and my world down, it was nice having that little moment of relief, the joke that helped me forget for just that mere moment.

"Thanks Rikki. Anyway, I'll leave you to it. Don't work too hard."

"You know it! See you tomorrow, Bella."

"Bye", I replied to my friend, before ending the call. There was one more detail that needed to be set into action too, but just thinking about how many more loose ends needed tying was daunting… completely daunting but a momentary sigh slightly relieved some of my pent-up tension.

While my phone was out, I made one final text message and with that, my plan was set in motion and I just hoped that everyone I needed would play their role.

**To:** Daniel Shapiro:

_Dinner date tomorrow night? Charlie's on the strip? Allie at mum n dads xo_

**From**: Daniel Shapiro:

_Sounds good. Sorry about this morning, I've got a surprise for ya to make up for it ;) xx_

Now, there was no going back.

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><p><strong>So what on earth has Bella got planned? And even more so, what has plan has Daniel got up his sleeve?<strong>

****Also, you all have my apologies and warnings in advance. I am going in to next term expecting the worse. Within the next 3 months, I have 19 assignments/essays/tests/exams left and they're all worth big-mamma percents (I'm talking like 15-30% of my grade each). So, I'm going to put my all into that, not to mention shaping up more for my dream formal body, and if, IF I have time for an update, I will, but that's going to be about last priority. No promises! Worst case scenario will be early November before I'm free (I DO have one other finished chapter up my sleeve), but fingers crossed I'll get another one up before that!** **

****Next chapter: As Bella's plans are set in motion, the other's help and loyalty is in question. Meanwhile, Will has a difficult start to bonding with Allie. ****


	26. Taking The Lead

**Hello one and all! I feel like I say this every chapter, but sorry that this was not up sooner, although I expected it not to be. Between school, family stuff, illness and a broken laptop I have either not had much time or capabilities allowing me to write and update. The worst part is that I needed a new hobby to unwind from school without my laptop, which occurred at a stupid time when all of these new TV programs were starting. I had not intention to watch anything other than my regular shows and The Mole, but suddenly I've found myself a Big Brother, Please Marry My Boy, Formal Wars, Slide Show and Wonderland addict... Brilliant.**

**Enjoy this chapter! After a strangely productive day of a class, managing to write like a quarter of chapter 28 in an hour _despite_ Braden's distractions and talking, oddly easy driving lesson, working and party shopping, I was in the mood for an update! Note: reviews make my day just that bit better! ;) **

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><p><strong>Chapter 26 – Taking The Lead<strong>

_Will's POV_

"Yeah?" "Mmm, yeah." "Oh really?" … "Yeah."

My date could be summarized in those four words. The most diversity that had occurred over the hour that had already passed was that of greeting words such as "_hi_" and "_how've_ _you_ _been_?" All in all, I was getting really close to pulling my own teeth out just for the sake of doing _something_.

"So really, the client had been implying that they wanted the designs to be printed out on stainless steel, but turns out that it was just the _colour_ _scheme_ that she had been wanting. It was a massive mess. Plus, it put me out of pocket a bit, so hopefully I can claim it on tax."

"Yeah, that's a shame. Hopefully." We'd been discussing her clients and different problems she had experienced at work for the last six months in what could be described as one of the most boring dates imaginable, when finally in a twist of fate I had a windfall of luck. "Hold that story for a second, Amy" I said, interrupting her as she went on to further discuss the marginal tax rate bracket that they could claim with work, while I was busy pulling out my mobile phone that I had felt sensations of feeling from within my pocket.

"Hey Rikki" I answered with a tone accidentally chirpier than any other that I had spoken in passed the "hello's" and greeting of our date, having realized that perhaps Rikki was the easy out that I needed.

"Hi. What are you doing at the moment? Are you busy?" Rikki asked quickly, equaling around the same length as what my "_Hey Rikki_" had lasted.

I looked over to Amy, who was watching me intently as I spoke on the handheld device, as I realized that I couldn't just blurt out that I wasn't busy at all and that I wished for her to save me. "Uh… It depends. What's up?" I answered as vaguely as I could come up with on the spot and under the pressure of my girlfriend.

"Sorry, sorry, sorry. I completely forgot that Bella asked me to let you and Zane know that she needs to talk to the three of us this afternoon. Zane was already home, but she's here with Allie now if you can make it? I sense that it's either something pretty urgent or quite important."

As if one of those sentences wasn't enough to free _any_ plans that I had, the combination of the three ensured that the deal of getting home was signed, sealed and delivered.

"Alright Rikki. I'll be there in a few minutes." Out of the corner of my eye I had noticed Amy's head prick up at my last sentence before I proceeded to end the call. I felt marginally guilty that I had been so eager for the date to dissolve as soon as it possibly could, but it was somewhat ironic given that the date had been a total fizzer in the first place.

"Sorry Amy" I said, kissing her cheek as a partial substitute for my disappearing act and lack of presence, dumping her on our date. "Something's come up at home. From what Rikki said, it sounds like it's pretty urgent."

She nodded, placing a hand on my arm along with her offers. "Everything okay? Is there anything I can do to help? Want me to come with?"

"Nah. Don't worry about it. Anyway, I've got to run. See you around."

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><p>As I hurried inside with the sense of fast paced rushing, I was slightly set back to see the polar scene in the lounge room of the house I shared. Rikki and Bella were sitting next to each other, sharing a lounge and intently in conversation with two steaming hot drinks sitting in front of them on the coffee table indicating that they mustn't have been like that for very long. Allie was contently seated on Bella's lap watching whatever brightly coloured, heavily animated children's program was on ABC2 and playing softly in the background. Meanwhile on the lounge closest to the TV, Zane appeared to be about as mesmerized and interested in the show as the one-year-old child was.<p>

"Hey…" I said softly with a slight hesitance at breaking the girls from their conversation and the 'kids' from the TV show.

"Hi Will," was the only reply that I received from my ex-girlfriend, considering that Rikki obviously dismissed herself from greeting me due to our housemate-conditions and the living proximity which she felt that excused her from common greetings, while Zane's attention didn't break away from the television.

"Sit down," Rikki snapped sharply, speaking in a tone anything other than the friendly greeting that I delivered to her and the others. "This one" she added with a gesture to Bella, "said she wouldn't talk about why she's here until all of us were here."

I made my way next to Zane, sharing the lounge where he was absorbed by the TV that led to an uncomfortable silence. Rikki looked at Bella, Bella looked at Rikki and I had no idea where to look, so my gaze naturally fell on watching the little girl. Something that was eventually noticed by her mother…

"Do you want a hold?" Bella proposed, gesturing to our little girl sitting on her lap contently.

"Uh, sure" I said and I could tell that I would have sounded nervous. My voice obviously did not translate to how I really felt about her question. Honestly, I was excited at the idea of spending time, getting to know my daughter. The delivery of my excitement, however, turned out to be a very different story.

As Allie was placed on my lap, the program she was watching was long forgotten and she observed me, emotionless. The only thing I could sense was that the jury was out on me and the next few seconds would be the deal breaker of what the critiquing child's opinion of me was. A one-year-old would have wanted to be impressed or entertained, but the problem was that on the spot, I had no idea how to do that.

Stories of my childhood consisted of Sophie entertaining toddler-me, which had been told through our parents where the games were: 'when Sophie tried to stuff as many tissues as she could fit in her baby brothers mouth' or 'when Sophie pushed Will off the swing and left him outside until we realized he was missing'. I didn't have much to go off of when it came to child-entertaining.

Fortunately, before I knew it Allie had burst out giggling and I smiled with relief, until I realized that it was all thanks to Zane who had come next to me peek-a-booing her, rather than a sudden surge of interest and excitement at me.

The other three of us watched as Zane easily entertained the toddler on my lap with both as oblivious to my presence as the other. I attempted to join in with the two's fun, bouncing Allie on my lap, accentuating Zane's peek-a-boos, all without the bat of an eyelid in my direction from her. _Obviously_ Zane was the flavor of the month for Allie.

Instead of trying again with Allie and Zane, I looked over to the girl's with the hope of a higher success and acknowledgment rate. "So what's up Bella? Why have you rounded us all up here?"

"Uh" Bella started, before hesitating to finish what she was saying, looking down to the floor intently instead. It was obviously something that was difficult for her to come right out with and say. "Um, a few things have happened and it's been getting a bit worse, so I've, um, made the decision to leave Daniel."

I was completely surprised, ecstatic, but surprised before the silence which followed the announcement allowing us all to process the thought was broken by Rikki as she wrapped her friend in a hug. "Are you kidding? That's fantastic! I'm glad you're finally seeing some sense girlie!"

However, instead of sharing Rikki's initial excitement, there were a few other big questions that formed within my mind and overwrote the initial reaction of happiness.

"What changed your mind? Has he done something else? Are you okay?" I checked quickly, with Bella reacting far more noticeably to Rikki by adding to their hugging embrace than me, compared to a mere twitch in response to my question.

Rikki's excitement at the revelation faded upon listening to and understanding my question that I posed to Bella who had still failed to provide an answer, a matter which Rikki took into her own hands.

"Bella? Come on… You can tell us…" Rikki whispered gently in encouragement as Bella bit her lip, looking away.

We both kept an intense and unwavering eye on Bella who eventually looked over to us, wearing little emotion on her face... Something I knew meant that she was trying to keep to herself, for whatever reason.

"Don't worry. What happens between us is beside the point; it doesn't change the fact that I'm breaking up with him, and _that's_ what I need you guys help for. So we're going out for dinner tonight and when we get back, I'll go out saying that I'm leaving to pick up Allie, but I just won't come back. I'll get an AVO against him after we leave and stuff, but he can't know that I'm coming back. I'm not strong enough to stand up against him like that if he's knows what's going on, otherwise he'll somehow persuade me to stay or I won't be able to bring myself to leave him."

There was no point in fighting with her, only seizing the moment and taking full advantage of the fact that she was still asking for our help and still planning to escape her toxic relationship.

"Alright. What's the plan? What do you need us to help you with?"

Rikki and I watched closely as Bella took a deep breath, rubbing her hands on the top of her legs as you would to warm up. "Okay… There are a few things that are going to complicate it, but he won't be around until dinner, so I have a chance to get some of our things packed and out. I've made a few smaller withdrawals from the bank account incase he freezes my access to it up and-" Bella said explaining her plans before I interrupted her.

"Where are you going to go?" I questioned, concerned that the girls would not be a hundred percent safe away from Daniel. "Your parents?"

She shook her head at my question before elaborating on her response. "No. I considered that, but I didn't really want to pull them into the mess if Daniel tries to find us. He knows where they live, so it's not really the best option."

"What _is_ the best option then? If you think you'd be safer here, I'm sure you two would be more than welcome to stay here, Bella. There'll basically always be someone else home to make sure he doesn't try anything to get you back."

Again, Bella shook her head as a simple response. "Thanks, but again, he knows the place and I don't really want to drag you guys into this anymore than I have to. I was just going to get a hotel room somewhere. There's hundreds around the Gold Coast so he wouldn't even know where to start and I'm pretty sure that I'd have enough money to cover it until things settle down." Bella's idea wasn't a bad one and seemed legitimate and secure, but I realized that I might have had one up on hers.

At this point, Zane started to tune into the conversation again, having lost the attention of the little girl in my lap as she once again became absorbed in the programs playing on the television.

"I've got another idea for you, Bella. Sophie still owns the boat shed; she bought my half off me a while ago when I moved in with Zane, but I still have keys and she only uses it maybe once or twice a year."

A few seats away from myself, Bella cringed at the idea. "It's like Goldilocks… Where is she then, if she's not living there? I can't imagine she'd be very excited coming home and finding me of all people there."

"She's got herself a pretty good job but flits between Sydney and Melbourne mostly" I shrugged, understanding Bella's point, especially given the fact that Sophie and Bella had never really managed to balance out their likability of one another even while we had been together. "Sophie basically just keeps the place in case she needs a getaway from work or a little holiday to see me."

"I don't know, Will... A hotel is probably the easier option."

Before I had an opportunity to reply with insistence on her accepting my offer, Zane contributed to the conversation for the first time today. "I agree with Will's idea. It's pretty isolated and low-key. Perfect for hiding away… I've lived here for my whole life and know the Gold Coast like the back of my hand, but before Will lived there, I had no idea the place even existed."

Bella nodded slowly, looking over in my direction, but with her gaze only settling on who was on my lap. "Alright. If you think it's safe and undetectable and that Sophie won't drop in, I guess it couldn't hurt to give it a shot there. Thank you, Will."

"No problems - It's the least I can do to help out. But anyway, what did you need us three for in the first place?"

With a deep breath, Bella began to explain what she informed us of as being the first big complication, looking mostly back and forth between Rikki and myself. "Well, I've arranged to have dinner with him at Surfer's and figured I'd be able to get away when we got home, after I tell him I've gone to get Allie. Dan thinks my parents are looking after her tonight, but I was wondering whether you two would be able to look after her somewhere else. Just in case something goes wrong tonight, I just want her to be safe and someplace he has no clue of... I was thinking the hotel room, but I guess the boat house is fine too if Allie and I stay there."

"Of course we can do that… It's the least that we can do to help out tonight." Rikki replied first, enthusiastically and evidently bearing no doubt or uncertainty as she fulfilled Bella's request, before I too added to the confirmation. "Yeah, it'll be no trouble."

I identified a momentary look of relief flooding over Bella's face before she thanked us. "Thank you so much guys. That is _such_ a weight off, knowing that she'll be safe and in good company. I can drop her off an hour or so before the dinner, if you want. That way, she'll only be up and need looking after for an hour or so before her bedtime, so hopefully it won't put you two out too much."

"Are you kidding? An hour or so? That's nothing Bella! We can look after her from now if you want, if you have other things you need to get done before tonight."

I watched Bella as Rikki spoke, but noticed the obvious fact that she appeared hesitant and nowhere near as relieved by this proposition than as she was by knowing that we didn't mind looking after her. "Um, okay, I guess… Are you sure that won't impose on you and your plans for today too much, Rikki? And you don't think that that might be a bit long for you to look after Allie, Will?"

"What plans, Bella? Stop worrying so much and just accept our help!" Once again, Rikki was the fast one and the first to respond to Bella's visible uncertainty of the new suggestion. I could see her point, and see why she'd be a bit hesitant… She knew I had as much experience with children as a 16-year-old carrying fresh leaner L-plates out of the Motor Registry Office had with driving. Just as I would be thrown in the deep end with babysitting, it would be as though the same inexperienced 16-year-old would be pushed into driving the Bruce Highway from Brisbane to Cairns. All of the potential of a recipe for disaster…

"I agree with Rikki. Lets us help you… How hard can looking after her be? Besides, I'll have Rikki's help and experience, too. We'll be fine." I didn't add the fact that we'd also have Zane –the secret baby whisperer- to our advantage too.

Bella's initial uncertainty began to noticeably shift a little as a smile showed slightly more assurance and confidence in the plans for today's events. "There's just one more thing I'm going to need help with… Zane?"

The distracted brunette had gone back to entertaining Allie by playing 'round and round the garden' on her teeny hands, partway through our conversation again until his head pricked up in recognition of his name. "Yeah?"

"There are a few favours I'm going to need your help with. Something needs to be done about the photos of us girls that Dan has which will compromise our secret. He clears his photos on his phone pretty regularly to keep the speed of it up, so I know that they would only be on his computer and external hard-drive. If I give you the house key while we're out, could you please go inside and either find them on the computer and clear them completely, or just take the whole thing if you can't?"

Zane nodded from where the two people involved in the current topic were conversing from opposite ends of the room. "Sure, that's easy, but what about the hard-drive?"

"I've already grabbed that but the laptop goes with him to work and basically never his side long enough for me to do anything about it. Also, it's probably better if we take one car to the apartment or you park away from it, in case Dan gets a bit suspicious…" Zane nodded at the clarification, leading to a silence among every person in the room.

"Anyway, I guess I better head off and get some of the finer details cleared up… So I'll leave you guys to it" Bella's words were like a cue of a production as all four of us stood up from our seats in synchronization; slowly walking towards the entrance of my shared home before we all stopped within meters of the door.

"Thanks again for all of your help guys – I promise that I will make it up to you all, when I can, however I can…"

Not for the first time this afternoon, Rikki was the first to reply to her friend. Mind you, with a reply that undoubtedly represented all three of our opinions. "Just get out of there safely and get rid of the bastard. That's all the repayment we will need."

"Thank you" Bella whispered with a grateful smile as the girls opened their arms to each other for a close hug.

After the girls pulled away from each other, I was 'next in line', so as to speak. As Rikki stepped away, reducing the gap between Bella and myself, there was a moment of idle awkwardness while Bella and I stood in front of each other, both of us as sure as each other as to what action we were going to make next; wave, hug, handshake… At least we were on a level playing field, being as clueless as the other as to what our new boundaries with each other were.

I noticed her hands fumble as she made an uncomfortable half-hearted attempt to slip her fingertips into her pants pocket. Abnormally for myself, I bit the bullet in an attempt to reduce at least some of the awkwardness, making a bold move and hoping to assist with the uncomfortable process of marking out the rules of whatever we were. Friends? … Or just acquaintances that share a child?

"Come here" I said, informing the other party as I took a step closer to her, clearly opening my arms to show the universal gesture of signaling a hug. The hug wasn't long, but it was long enough for me to whisper: "I'm proud of you. You're braver than you think you are by standing up against Daniel." She didn't reply, but as the hug ended and our bodies separated, I noted the small smile that lingered on her lips.

Zane was the final person to move closer towards her as I backed away and the two confirmed the plans for going to the apartment and what not tonight, as he held my daughter after being designated as Allie's holder, due to her blatantly obvious insistence in the matter after having crawled her way over to his lap from mine on the lounge. The two wrapped up their conversation of details and I heard Bella asking to say goodbye to Allie before she went.

Zane handed Allie back to the Bella, who upon reaching her mother's arms let out a little squeal of "mum" – without the vowel, excitedly pointing back to Zane. I smiled at the little act before attempting to give it my own translation. "It's like she's saying '_Hey mum, here's my new friend!'_"

Holding our little girl close with a small laugh, she looked over to me. "Well done. I'm surprised that you can understand the one-word-sentences and get the toddler lingo down already."

Yet another silence fell on the room, unusually, considering the close friendships of smaller combinations of the people in the room. Rikki leant against the wall comfortably and contently, waiting to see her guest out, Zane appeared bored and as though he might leave the room at any moment and I noticed the increasing glassiness of Bella's eyes as she held Allie closer and closer in her arms. Bella saw me watching her and quickly gave Allie another cuddle, kissing her hair that featured a single decorative butterfly clip before holding her out towards me.

"Sorry, I won't hold you guys up anymore. Here, you can take her… Look after her. If you guys have any problems, call me. Hopefully I'll see you later."

Bella gave Allie one more kiss on her lightly coloured locks as she reluctantly let her go from my grasp, giving the rest of us a brief wave as she walked out quickly, without another word.

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><p><strong>And another chapter bites the dust! Hope you all enjoyed reading it and as per-usual, I would love opinions, thoughts and views on anything in the chapter. <strong>

**Right from as soon as Allie was revealed as being Will's, a lot of people had started reviewing about and requesting that they wanted to see Will getting to know and forming a bond with Allie. Now that's sort of being set in the early stages of progressing so I hope that you're enjoying that. However, it's not going to be smooth sailing as many picked up on last chapter. Not everyone is natural with kids which is something I'm trying to draw out from this, but I hope it's coming across okay since I'm the total opposite.**

**Finally, a lot have reviewed saying how they want Daniel seriously hurt/dead in revenge for abusing Bella. I completely respect THAT opinion, but I personally don't believe it works that way, and that two bouts of violence will not right each other, unless out of self-defense. ****While I have fortunately enough never been in a physically abusive relationship, I have had the unpleasant and manipulative experience of a toxic relationship. Not the same, no, but that personal experience is where I have been drawing of Bella's decisions and uncertainty prior to now. ****However, that DOES NOT mean that Dan's going to walk away scot-free. Justice will be dealt and I honestly believe that someone like Daniel suffers more with mental/emotional pain, than how any violence would hurt him. Daniel's story is not over yet.**

**Next chapter: Lewis and Cleo both struggle with the emotional and physical damage of Lewis' GBS. With Cleo being pushed closer and closer to the edge of giving up, will she when Lewis needs her?**


	27. Secret Fears

**Another day, another chapter. Sorry if this is really terribly proof-read, after day 2 of 5:45am starts and getting home at 6:00pm, I'm not quite on top of my game mentally! I don't even really think I've recovered from the 5 course meal (spending 13 hours at school that day..) my F&H class put up as our final group task put on for nearly 30 people which was a completely exhausting and exhilerating experience. Anyway, I've been putting off uploading this for a few weeks so just decided to bite the bullet and get it up. At least the extra time has allowed me to write another 3 chapters in advance, woo! :D**

**Since the last chap, Aus has changed Prime Minister's AGAIN for the third one in about six months (yes, politics in Australia is over optimum stability) after the election and booting out of K Rudd. **

**Thanks to the reviewers of the last chapter, enjoy!**

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><p><strong>Chapter 27 – Secret Fears <strong>

_Cleo's POV_

Lewis had been awake for three days already, yet each day had felt blended into the day before – there had been no distinctive achievements to define the days from each other. I was ecstatic for Lewis to be awake, but there had been no real change in his condition since the day he woke up.

They had been such an emotionally exhausting few days and after never really being able to recuperate from the turmoil of the waiting game, I could feel myself wearing thin.

Just as the days of waiting had blurred, the days of appointments and tests all might as well have been melded together in one great slab, with no great significance of one from another.

In the beginning I had tried pushing my little enthusiasm that I had left out to try and encourage my husband, but with each attempt, my dwindling fire of enthusiasm was being doused with cold water.

Through questions and tests the doctors had determined that as suspected, the Guillain-Barre had had no impact or effect on Lewis's memory or knowledge, instead only affecting his physical capabilities and muscles as the disease was known for.

Currently, he was sitting in the same bed that had acted as his home since being admitted to hospital, as a nurse spoon-fed him 'solids'. Doctors were impressed that he was able to consume such a food already, with his mouth being mobile enough for the task, but all I could see was how great of a back step it was from what the Lewis I knew and loved was able to do.

It wasn't a feat for him to be able to eat solids, as solid as apple puree off a spoon was, and all I could be reminded of was how Bella was excited once Allie started solid food. _Allie_… not Lewis. It wasn't right.

But regardless, I sat there, clapping Lewis's initial mouthful, offering him with positive praise and motivation of how proud I was of him and that he could keep going every now and then. His speech was still impaired, and yet to be restored, but I'd become accustomed to watching him, rather than listening. I'd been able to read my husband's expressions and understand the extent of what they told for a long time now, but it was only since he had woken up that I had focused so much on his eyes.

Now, his eyes were the mirrors to his heart, the telling of what he could not say and express.

As he continued eating, it was then that I noticed the look in his orbs. The weakness, the pain… It was almost as if he was telling me that I had let him down. And I had no idea as to why or how.

"We're going to take him off to physio shortly for a few assessments and muscle building exercises."

I looked over to Lewis briefly before responding to the nurse. "Does Lewis know? Did you tell him?"

"No, I thought I'd tell you first. He'll realize soon enough."

This was my cue to lose the plot completely unnecessarily for a rare moment of psycho-wife unreasonableness. I could sense the thin sheet of ice beneath me was wearing thin. "Just because he can't respond, it doesn't mean he can't hear you. Lewis _is_ here too. Talk to him! He's still a person too, you know?!"

The nurse respectfully listened to my rant, obviously used to fruit loops like me, before apologizing and promptly leaving the room.

As I let my annoyance off my chest, that had all really been my dispute of how wrong the entire scenario was, not anything to do with the nurse, I sat down in one of the few seats I had been well accustomed to in Lewis' room.

"I'm sorry about that, Lewis…" I mumbled to the other person in the room, knowing that I would be left response-less as I noticed my helpless husband watching me from across the room. Despite the hazy and unclear new position we'd be thrown into from the illness, I could still see the life and pain in Lewis' eyes that had not changed at all, acting as the reminder that I needed for myself, more than the nurse did. He was still the same person. And now he was completely and helplessly aware of everything, which neither of us could do anything about as much as we wanted to.

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><p>Later that day, my family dropped in to visit, as both my own and Lewis's families had been doing frequently throughout the weeks since he had been brought to hospital.<p>

Currently, Kim and Dad were in the room, making one-sided conversation to him, letting him know of all the current happenings that he had missed out on. Shamefully enough, I didn't know about half of what they had been talking about either, having lived in my own hermit-shell since the GBS had reared its ugly head.

I was listening to dad explain a few current news items; the Sydney father that had kidnapped his own child, the drugging of the South Australian cyclist and so on, when I felt a tap on my shoulder from Sam who had been quietly conservative and taking in the room from one of the corners where she had been leaning up against a wall.

"Want to come and keep me company for a few minutes?" my stepmother questioned as she subtly gestured to the door with the implication of travelling passed the doorway.

"Um, alright I guess…" I replied, receiving a warm smile in response from Sam as she took a step back from me. I left my favourite seat next to Lewis' bed and gently took his limp hand in mine. I didn't know whether he could even feel the small squeeze that I transmitted through his hand from mine.

"I'm sorry but you're going to have to put up with Kim, _and_ dad's bad jokes on your own for a few minutes." I could see the smile that never surfaced on Lewis' lips through his eyes that lit up just that little more than how they were. "I'm just going out with Sam for a minute, Lewis, I'll be back in a few minutes."

I released the grip of his hand from mine and slowly took a few steps back to follow Sam out of the room. Entering the corridor and feeling the sensation of a hand latch onto my arm, I suspected I had just walked into the same trap that my dad, Lewis' mum and the girls had all pulled me into at one point or another.

"It's fantastic that Lewis is awake… But how are _you_ coping, Cleo? I can only imagine how exhausting and difficult it would be having to see your husband like that."

I took a moment to exhale and consider not only what I would say to Sam, but also how it would come across. I was a little bit tired of sympathy. There are only so many times that you can hear: _"you poor thing_" before it begins exceeding your monthly quota.

"I'm okay… I'm glad that he's awake, but it's just a bit hard seeing him the way he is and seeing all the things he can't do for the time being. It's even worse being able to tell that he feels that way too, but there's nothing he can do to avoid me seeing him like that."

"I can understand that, but at least Lewis isn't a very proud person, so hopefully it's not too hard for him."

I nodded as I continued down the path that Sam was leading me. "Yeah, but I don't think that anyone wants people that they love and people that love them to see them looking more vegetable than normal, Sam…"

She stopped walking and remained still in one stop for a mere moment, almost as if she had been startled by my words, before managing to recover and remain on her path as if nothing had been said. If it hadn't been for the fact that I had seen her stop, I would never have even known.

"I know, Cleo. I'm sorry if it sounded like that. I know he still has dignity and nobody would want to be seen like that, but I was just trying to say that at least he doesn't value his pride so much so it would crush his spirits for him to know we're seeing him like that."

"Well perhaps you shouldn't have implied it if you didn't mean it."

Before the words had even completely fallen and slipped out of my mouth, before my stepmother even had time to react to the harsh snappy comment I had just dealt her, I had already realized what I had said and how unnecessary it was to be said to someone who was only trying to assist me with reassurance and comfort.

I realized it was the second time in a matter of a few hours that I had snapped at unnecessary and innocent bystanders. First the nurse, and now Sam…"

"I am so sorry, Sam. I'm the bad person here…"

Again, Sam stopped while I rhythmically followed her movements and stopped a moment later also. She placed her hand on my shoulder. "Oh Cleo... You're not a bad person. You are going through so much; standing by Lewis through this… that alone shows what a loving and _good_ person you are. It was my fault for being a bit insensitive."

"How about we're both just trying to do our best?" I suggested and Sam's face reflected her positive reaction through a smile. "Deal."

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><p>After we had returned to Lewis' room, more tests and physical trials were being performed to assess Lewis's mobility.<p>

My family had stayed to support me as the four of us watched on helplessly. It was like watching a car accident. You didn't want to see it, but it was impossible to tear your eyes away from it.

The occasional moments when our eyes met from my observational glances and Lewis's avoiding looks broke my heart. I could see in his eyes how depressed he was; I saw the look of him wishing that he were anywhere but right here then.

My dad, standing close to my side picked up on the emotional trauma, after catching a glimpse of the glance my husband and I shared, making an effort to comfort me by enveloping me in a half hug as his arm held my shoulder with a gentle squeeze.

I knew that my father was only trying to be of help, of a comfort and show support to me, but the touch and squeeze was what I had not expected to push me over the edge, both of us, seeing the further pain in Lewis' eyes as he saw the comfort and support I needed, solely from watching him.

It just was not supposed to be like this, and I could not take it _being_ like this. Instead, I fled the room as subtly as I could to hide the fact that I was upset and to mask my struggle at not being able to handle seeing Lewis like that anymore, for his sake.

"Oh Cleo…" I heard, distinguishing from my knowledge of the voice, even without a glance that it was my father that had spoken. I hadn't realized that he had even left the room to join me in the hallway. "I wish that you didn't have to see him like that. I would honestly do anything in my power to avoid it, sweetheart."

I didn't reply. I felt like the most ungrateful brat for feeling such a way, but I was sick to death of all the sympathy. At the end of the day, no one and no amount of sympathies ever came close to making things right again… And _t__hat_ was what I needed.

Spending a few more moments to comfort me, dad digressed back to reassurance, reminding me the tests were only trying to evaluate the damage and how badly the Guillain-Barre had affected him. "They're only trying to work out the extent of the disease. At this stage there's still a lot of hope and who knows… hopefully after the worst of the symptoms are over and the paralysis eases off, the recovery could be really quick. He could be back to normal within a matter of months.

"Or it could take years and years!" I screeched out as my throat cut my thoughts off, being all that could be voiced. After the momentary sting was over, I continued, letting each and every one of my greatest fears that I had kept bottled up and pushed below the surface with the façade of hope for my husband to experience a miracle recovery. A miracle recovery really would have to be just that, a miracle, complete with no more of the mental, emotional and physical trauma, restoring our lives to our day-to-day lifestyle which I regretted not cherishing with every ounce of gratitude within me while I had the chance to do so, from living the undesired alternative.

"There's still a chance, that he's never going to be able to walk again, Dad, and no guarantee that he will!" I choked through the tears that were battling against my willpower, choking on the implications of those words that I had barely allowed to pass through my mind in the first place.

The look on his face said every single word that my dad was not brave enough to say or cold-hearted enough to admit that he knew it just as well as I did. "Sweetheart, you can't keep thinking the worst. I know that it is hard, but you just have got to hope for the best and deal with it when it comes to that if the worst case scenario does come about."

"Have you been there? Have you seen Lewis for the last few weeks?! He has been completely paralysed and struggles to hardly even open his eyes! How is that not the worst, _already_?! I don't know how much more I can take of this, seeing him like that… I can't bring myself to sit next to his bed, watching him like that, having a one-sided conversation with him telling him that everything's going to be okay when I don't even believe that myself."

I looked in the general direction of the hospital room that I had grown to know well recently, being prompted to continue. "And have you seen his eyes?! He hates this! I can see in his eyes how hard it is for him. He can tell I'm lying through my teeth when I try to reassure him, dad... I just can't do this anymore. I can't see him like that."

"I know Cleo" my dad replied, supporting me in his arms as he smoothed a piece of hair with a gentle stroking motion as he would have done for me when I was a little girl, grumbling to my father about how I couldn't sleep. I wished I was _that_ Cleo again, completely oblivious to all of the pain and heartache the world could deal out, while any sticky situation was supported by the belief that my dad could fix it.

"I can see how hard it is on both of you. You shouldn't have to be going through this, neither of you should be. But if it's hard for _you_ seeing Lewis like that, not being sure what do or say, imagine how _he_ is feeling. At least you have options, sweetheart, you have us. He has no outlet or way of discussing his fears. That's why he needs your hope, he needs _you_… He needs to see your hope and then he might start believing it."

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><p><strong>So thoughts and feelings on the chapter? Hope you enjoyed it, I knew a few people were waiting for Clewis. <strong>

**Although I don't finish until the end of October, I cannot believe that I only have 17 school days left of my life. Who would have thought that it ever ends, but that it also happens so quickly! With assignments and school wrapping up forever, you can expect slightly more regular updates now! **

**Next chapter: In an attempt to**** push away their mutual fears,**** Will and Rikki focus on acknowledging each other's hesitations.**


	28. House Of Cards

**Hellooooo! As always, wanted to get this up sooner, but as always didn't get around to it even despite the fact that it's school holidays here at the moment. Have had quite an 'interesting' few days... One of my best friend's boyfriend's asked me to help with proposing to her so that was pretty damn big and hard to keep a surprise. Then yesterday for the public holiday a group of us went on a bush walk. All well and good, but I hate the bush and the whole time I had the pleasure of my bf reminding me how lovely and serene it was while I couldn't wait to get out of the place. That was all before it was decided that 'Oh hey, who needs to keep to the safety constraints of the track?! Let's go cross-country on a risky terrain and make our own track for fun!' Needless to say, injuries were incurred. **

**Meanwhile, my Fanfiction account has just passed it's 3 year birthday/anniversary so enjoy the celebratory chapter!**

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><p><strong>Chapter 28 – House of Cards<strong>

_Rikki's POV _

"And then there were four…" I exclaimed with the hope of the cliché factor of my comment being at least enough to provide a topic of discussion, or even dare I say it, something to argue about. Anything was better than the silence infestation plaguing Will's boat-shed currently.

Honestly, the turn of events that had determined the current group were truly impeccable. Will, Tam, Allie and myself were stuck together in the anything but spacious constraints of Will's boat-shed. Zane and Bella were out playing their roles in Bella's escape from Daniel and the rest of us were all stuck here as sitting ducks. Since the plan was for Bella to lay down a restraining order as soon as Zane picked her up, the mutual decision had been made for us to all hideout here at least for the night in case our share house in a locality that Daniel knew of, received a violent and possibly irrational visitor looking for his girlfriend.

... Hence, the confinement and grouping was the epitome of awkward.

Since Will had discovered that I had been hiding Bella's secret with her, our friendship had not quite truly recovered and was yet to bounce back completely, while it didn't take a genius to discover the lack of bond between and even the tolerance for my younger sister. While it was 'strike two for Rikki' in the enemy department, the others were only reduced to awkwardness in each other's midst. Will was uncomfortably trying to mask the awkward moments as he attempted to deal with his complete stranger of a daughter around myself and Tam, who he barely knew also. Finally, from the glances of attention that I paid to her, I noticed that Tam appeared a bit clueless and uncertain how to act, which was unusual for the generally confident teenager, until she started attempting to make an effort.

Tam put her phone away that had so far provided every ounce of entertainment for her so far, moving across the room and crouching down on the floor next to the youngest in the room who was occupying herself with a legion of toys which her mother had provided her with before she left. As the teenager picked a toy up and was inducted into the play corner after a smile of approval from Allie, she soon started asking questions about her new playmate.

"How old is she Will?"

I noticed my blonde friend who had been sitting in the corner without us realizing that he had been drifting off to la-la land had his attention pricked enough to disrupt him. "Huh, oh, one I think…" there was a brief pause, allowing him to mentally think over his answer before confirming the fact to my teenage sister whose face read disbelief over his reaction. "Yeah, she'd be just over one."

"How on earth do you not know how old your own kid is?!" she questioned in response with amusement, still very unaware and oblivious that there was a reason Will and I both knew behind the fact that all of a sudden a daughter had become affiliated with him during recent weeks after he made no public mention of her in the house passed the fact of their relation.

"I just _don't_, okay? I'm bad at remembering dates."

The amusement in Tam's voice was easily identifiable and clearly written across her face. However, she obviously decided to bite her tongue from the warning tone I heard and knew well of in Will's voice that told her he was not in the mood for jokes or being pushed about his lack of knowledge.

"Okay" Tam replied, obviously perceptive of the tone and steering away from the hard questions temporarily to move towards a lighter, jokier conversation. "She's a bit of a cutie... No offence, but she is _way_ too cute to be yours."

"Wow, you really are Rikki's sister aren't you? Thanks…" Will teased with a laugh that had all the while earned himself a death-glare from myself at his comment that I was almost definite that he would have been expecting in my silent retaliation. "I agree with you though. She looks exactly like her mother."

Tam nodded, looking down to the subject of the conversation whom she was playing with before returning her gaze to Will. "So who is her mum? It isn't your girlfriend, right?"

Since I was separated from the conversation, Tam's efforts were almost laughable. It was truly a case of one step forward, two steps back, I didn't even need to hear Will's response to know that. I could sense she made a slight headway with her jokes, but I knew the more that her intrigued personal questions continued; the further deeper she was digging herself into a hole.

"No," was Will's simple response to the question. Since Will and I had decided against informing Tam of all the nitty-gritty details and reasoning as to why she would be joining us as we migrated to the significantly smaller boat-shed for the night.

"What happened? How come you and her mother aren't together then?" she started asking nosily before she attempted to answer her own question. "Ooh. Let me guess... One night stand?"

Will's short answer to her last few questions that he clearly did not elaborate on had obviously not been enough for Tam. His slow response to my sister could have been interpreted as calm and patient, but I knew my friend better than that. I could tell that he would have been biting his tongue and clenching his teeth to avoid snapping at her unwanted questions and interrogation into his personal life.

"No. She's just from a previous relationship that didn't work out."

I could read the frustration on Will's face across the room from myself, while hearing it in his voice just confirmed the suspicion for me. Will's attempt at avoiding out of character snapping just played into my hand as a justifiable reason for me to snap at my sister… Any excuse has been doing it for me lately.

"Curiosity killed the cat, Tam" I sniped to the teenager who swung her head in my direction from her focus of the two individuals that made the father and daughter duo in the room.

"What? I'm sorry. I was just trying to make conversation. I figured that attempting to talk to Will would be a hell of a lot more fruitful than trying to talk to you again…"

Honestly, given my attitude and behavior towards Tam recently, I was not all that surprised that she had come to that conclusion... Finally. However, it was not going to stop me from defending my ego and pride, which was under attack after her comment.

"Shut up," I warned her irritably initially, giving her a roll of my eyes. "Just back off. Are you interested in heading straight back home? We're only letting you linger with us because your framing mother dearest as the Wicked Witch from the West…"

"And I appreciate you letting me 'linger'. One question, though. I'm wondering if you're jealous… Are you feeling threatened and uncomfortable because I'm trying to make friends with your friends? Is that why you're being so defensive and unnecessary around me? Is that it?"

From what happened next, all I could assume was that Will could read me as well as I could read him when he interrupted the argument moments before I went Barbie-doll-head-ripping-off mad.

"Alright, alright… Bella mentioned Allie needs a nap around now. I think I'm gonna need a hand. One of you want to help me?"

Across the room, Tam picked up the baby and subject of the intervened conversation, eagerly offering to help Will that she explained as an apology and peace offering for being so nosy. The change of subject led to another more harmonious discussion as the inexperienced father brainstormed ways that he could try to settle a one year old to sleep.

Five minutes later, the idea of Tam looking after her and putting a movie on from her laptop with the hopes of slowly relaxing the square-eyed young child to sleep was put forward and planned, given that it had worked for me when babysitting Allie a few times in the past.

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><p>"So, talk buddy. What's with the whole being distant towards Allie thing? When Tam offered to settle her, you couldn't have accepted and got out of that room fast enough" I said, questioning my friend as I slouched further into the outdoor lounge seating on the deck of the boat-shed. "Don't tell me you're having second thoughts about being a part of her life and having something to do with her…"<p>

Since Tam had offered to look after Allie in the room, with a movie enticement, Will and myself had made our way outside to do whatever we wanted to do, but away from the toddler and with the resolve of reducing noise and potential distractions or deterrents for her to sleep.

"No… it's not that _I_ don't want to be around her or have something to do with her, really. In fact, I think that it's the other way around."

"What? Allie doesn't want to be around you?" I questioned, with a face that accidentally displayed a reaction as though it was the stupidest thing I had ever heard, making the blonde sitting on the edge of the deck with his feet dangling in the water, squirm that little bit more.

As he nodded back to my question, I took a moment to gauge Will's seriousness or whether it was all just one well acted out practical joke. His next confession shattered my cynical speculation. "I just don't think that she likes me very much. I guess, by keeping my distance from her a bit, she can't _not_ like me."

"Really? You honestly believe that she doesn't like you?"

"Really. Just watch her. Around me, she's not fussed at all, but playing with Zane and even Tam, she's all smiley and interested. And it's not like I can even persuade her with playing with her favourite things or anything. I know _nothing_ about her. You were there when Tam asked, I can't even remember her birthday!"

Will's thoughts that his daughter would never like him were obviously weighing heavily on him as he opened up, the distress being clearly written and translatable on his face as he spoke.

"I could tell that you were getting a bit frustrated when she was asking questions that you didn't know the answer to, but that sort of thing you'll learn over time. And I'm sure as she see's you around more and more, you'll be more familiar and recognizable to Allie. It's not the end of the world."

"You know what's weird and what I was stupid enough to even believe even for two seconds?" Will questioned, letting out a sigh as his gaze passed me, looking much further out over the canal of water. I gave him the one word answer that he needed in encouragement to continue.

"I know barely anything about Allie personally, but I just feel this connection to her. It's just like this magnetic force or something completely weird like that. She just draws my focus, all the time. The only thing I can compare it to is like being in love and infatuated with someone, but just being so much more on guard and with so much more feeling. I was stupid enough to think that she might have had a similar sort of thing that would at least result in a bit more interest in me than what she does."

Families are great... Are they ever balanced and remotely functional? Here I was, trying to steer clear from my sister, while Will was venting that he didn't feel close enough to his own daughter. "I hate families sometimes. Actually, I do most of the time."

"I know. Family can be stupid and make no sense or be weird, but then again everything about my situation is weird. It's kind of getting hard to differentiate what is normal and what's weird. Maybe normal is just weird. I don't know… all I know is that this is doing my head in."

"I present to you, William Benjamin, drama king of the year, everyone. Honestly though Will, apart from the whole Allie thing, which is in the process of being corrected, what else is _that_ weird or wrong with your family?" I asked, putting forward my question to my fellow housemate who from my position, I could see no real problems with.

As Will looked out onto the water again, squinting from the beams of sun that were not there, before he finally revealed what I believed was _really_ on his chest. "I haven't told my parents, or Sophie, about Allie yet… All of _that_ is weird too, but I just haven't had the chance to catch up or call them about it yet. I don't even really _want_ to tell them and if I did, I'd prefer to just give them a call, drop the grandparent-bombshell on them and hang up to let them deal with the aftermath."

"Wimp" I laughed jokingly at the blonde whose legs were dangling off the edge of the wooden jetty. Under normal circumstances, I would have expected my on-guard friend to fight to the death for the preservation of his dignity after the tease, but the paler variation of the same person had obviously no longer deemed such a battle of such importance.

"At least I have the excuse of just calling Soph" he shrugged, only contributing to my insult that I had directed at him. "Dealing with the parentals will be fun enough on their own – at least I'm already expecting their reaction to my news… it will induce one of two things; a heart attack or a mid-life crisis. Son of the year will go to me."

"Sometimes there's no clear cut right and wrongs with family. I swear it's just blurred lines of minefields and traps."

Although my comment was largely from the heart and reflective of my stance with my own family, Tam especially, I had not meant to nor had I wanted to reveal so much regarding the topic that I liked to ignore and continue pushing deeper and deeper down from the surface.

"So what about Tam?" Will asked as his head rotated to my direction. I despised the fact that all of his attention was turned towards me after the one comment.

"What about her? She's been putting the kid you're avoiding to sleep."

He rolled his eyes and I knew that my remark of defence was so far from working. "Come on Rikki. You're the ice maiden around her. She's your sister. You should at least give things a go with her before you shoot her down."

"We _think_ that she's my sister. I'm still holding onto that little fragment of doubt."

"Rikki, you're kidding yourself. You look at Tam, and you practically see you. Why would someone even lie about being your sister? To steal the multi-million dollar inheritance that your dad left you?!"

It was the combined factor of insult, sarcasm and the mention of my favourite person that induced my snap at Will. "I don't know, okay, Will?! But I can't trust her. Not when she just shows up out of nowhere and I can't trust that she doesn't have some ulterior motive, even if she is my sister!"

"Why would you think that? She has done _nothing _to even create speculation or doubt about any of that!"

"Because she has just showed up! And even if she is innocent, then I am so damn bitter about the fact that I have gone through so much of my life without knowing my sister. I always remember her being self-absorbed but why the hell would mum keep sisters apart like that? I can't connect with someone that I feel so bitterly towards."

"Please don't snap my head off when I say this," Will quickly remarked, before he introduced me to a proposition of my sister. "But to me, it sounds like your gripes all root from your mum, not Tam. Give her a shot, a second chance… I know what damage can be done by not giving someone a second shot when they've deserved it. After Bella left, I kept ignoring her attempts to communicate with me and look at how damaging that turned out to be. I'm not saying that it's the same circumstances for you, but I lost the first year of my kid's life because I refused to swallow my pride and listen to Bella. Things would have been _so_ different and much better if I had of just let her actually tell me. If you keep focusing on the circumstances behind Tam and not the fact that she's your sister who you can to hopefully gain at least a friendship with, who knows what sort of person she is and what sort of relationship or connection the two of you will have if you don't try."

I didn't quite know what to say as I felt the undesired sensation of a cooling hatred towards her which allowed me to understand and see what he was saying. Previously, I had never even wanted to consider the possibility of having something to do with Tam, I just wanted her to disappear and restore my family tree to the way it was for my first twenty-one years of my life as believing that I was an only child. Being in each other's lives was not a part of the plan; a hope that was weakened even further as Will continued to speak his views which I could only assume was relating to his own personal experiences.

"Not always, but sometimes people are deserving of the benefit of the doubt and a second chance."

"Stop making so much sense…" I criticized in a warning tone to the blonde whose face simply erupted in a cheeky grin that explained exactly how pleased with himself he was. "I'll give it a shot, but no promises. If I don't like her, I don't like her. No one and nothing can change my opinion then."

Will nodded his head, approvingly at my acceptance. "Good choice. But no one will hold it against you if you try and fail."

I nodded at his reassuring remark in confirmation, before the two of us were disrupted upon hearing the creak of old wood and hinges as the door of the boat-shed informed us of its opening. "Hey..." Tam whispered as she crept out of onto the decking holding the sleeping tot. "She fell asleep not even halfway through the movie! But I wasn't sure where you wanted her..."

"Thanks, you're a legend. Um...I'll take her, I guess... I'll put her to bed" Will replied, seeming anything other than the confident person I was talking to minutes earlier who was encouraging me with my own family. As he struggled to gently take the sleeping girl and position her comfortably as she snuggled deeper into his arms from the movement, it was a reminder that sometimes you get thrown in the deep end and only after will you realize how worthwhile or worthless it would be.

While I had decided that it was time for at least a chance at trying to extend an olive branch to Tam and after her many attempts that I had ignored or insulted instead of reciprocating, I realized that it was my turn to do so now. It took two people to make an effort and make it work, just as Will was nervous of.

"Hey Rikki," were the two words that as a reflex to hearing my name snapped me out of my thoughts. "What time is it?" Will questioned quietly, almost as though he wanted to know the answer out of curiosity, but in case it was a question that he discovered he did not want the answer to, his words would hopefully, but impossibly fade away.

It was getting late. _Quite_ late. An answer I did not want to see and an answer that Will did not want to hear as the two of us helplessly and nervously remained fully aware of how high the stakes of the game one other girl we both cared about was playing tonight and the fact that we had heard nothing from her or Zane...

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><p><strong>Thoughts? Thoughts on Rikki's ongoing hesitance towards Tam? Thoughts on Will's hesitance towards bonding with Allie? Thoughts on anything remotely far from perfect?<strong>

**Next chapter: In the aftermath of the getaway night, Will and Zane are self-sacrificially placed in a compromising situation, with interesting results. Out of guilt, Zane takes his challenge of pushing Rikki & Tam together to a whole other level. **


	29. Mr Fix-It

**Hello! First and foremost, a big thank you to all the kindhearted individuals who took the time to read and the doubly kindhearted ones who took a few moments to review my last chapter. Even for a writer, I cannot begin to explain my gratitude. I hope you all enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. **

**Really wanted to update on such a monumental day of my life. As of this morning, I have officially completed high school. It's the end of an era! My best advice for any seniors or anyone doing year 12 (here, a lot of people say it's worse than Uni) is to cry. I am not overemotional, I'm not much of a crier at all, but when it starts getting to 4 A.M. and you're convinced you'll be legitimately getting an F for your assignments (but you never do, trust me!), the best motivational recharger is to watch something short, but insanely sad. So it might only be death/funeral/goodbye scenes from your favourite shows/movies or even songs that last a few minutes to have a blubbery outburst but good gosh it makes the world of difference. **

**Anyway after a bittersweet day of tears, goodbyes and pampering, I feel like obliged to update... Plus I feel like it's been a hundred years since a Zane chapter... Enjoy!**

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><p><strong>Chapter 29 – Mr Fix-It <strong>

_Zane's POV _

"You're quiet" I commented, breaking the silent environment of the car trip as Bella and I ventured to our first stop from fleeing her apartment. "I've never known you to be so quiet."

"I just left my boyfriend and all I can do is hope that I have done the right thing, the best way possible. Sorry if I'm not commentating on my every thought."

I could hear the female in my company fidgeting and fumbling with the handbag that was sitting on her lap. It was only when we stopped at traffic lights, or for other necessary pauses, that I noticed the shake and tremble of her hands from the glow of yellow light from overhead street lights and lampposts that illuminated the dark car at this time of night.

"Sorry…" I eventually offered to the rattled female, only minutes before my time would have run out from our arrival at the police station. "And you _have_ done the right thing, by the way. It's not safe for you, or your daughter, to be with him after the way he's treated you. Trust me, you never know when the intensity of his erratics are going to increase."

"Yeah. I know… But thank you" she muttered simply, but concisely, leading to a silence that neither of us wanted to threaten.

We were in a place that I could only assume was mutually comfortable for myself and for Bella, since we had never really had a chance to move off the base of acquaintances to each other, from behind the shadow of our mutual friends. However, she had trusted me enough to acquire my help, and I in turn had reassured and comforted her nervous actions since the evening had began.

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><p>The stop at the Police Station had turned out to be at least an hour detour as I waited for Bella to make the appropriate statements against Daniel and applying for an apprehended violence order against her boyfriend to protect herself and Allie.<p>

By the time that we arrived back to boatshed safely, it was well and truly passed midnight. Yet, as we approached the makeshift house, it wasn't hard to tell that the current occupants were still up, as the light from inside reflected out onto the water from the cracks that weren't covered by window furnishings.

I didn't knock as I opened the door, while carrying the other last minute bits that Bella had pulled out of the house with her, including the incriminating laptop that I couldn't get past the password of to delete the necessary files.

The scene that was momentarily in place before being interrupted, upon registering the noise and what the opening door meant, was Rikki sitting on the floor, with her back up against the wall as she talked to Will who was in a similar position to her as held the sleeping blonde little girl while Tam looked like she had crashed or accidentally fallen asleep on the lounge in an uncomfortable position.

"Oh thank god you made it" Rikki said quickly as both she and Will breathed sighs of relief as we entered. Rikki rushed over to us first and wrapping the girl who had entered with me into a massive hug. Moments later, Will carefully stood up and walked over to our direction too.

I heard a few whimpers from the girl's direction, but was interrupted from listening further as Will ensured that I was 'all good' too. Finally, Rikki and Bella separated and after quickly dabbing her glistening cheek, Bella held her arms out to Will, for a very different reason than why she had with Rikki. After handing Allie to her mother, Will tried to explain that she had woken up about twenty minutes ago briefly, but I noticed that Bella appeared to be far from listening as she gently pressed repetitive kisses to her sleeping daughter's hair.

"Did you get the AVO? Did Dan realize you were leaving? What did the Police say?" These were just a few of the questions that both Rikki and Will began firing at us, and while I answered the questions that I could, there were questions there that only Bella had the ability and right to answer. However, with each and every word, I noticed the same nervousness and shake that I had witnessed earlier in the car.

"Sorry, but is it okay if I just go to bed? I'm quite exhausted" Bella finally spoke after only answering a question or two.

The topic and conversation was changed on a slightly different track as Will and I both agreed to let Bella and Rikki take Will and Sophie's old beds, which unfortunately left the two of us with the five star option of sleeping on the wooden and boarded floor with a pillow or blanket, if we could find one.

Shortly after the confirming the sleeping arrangements, Bella hurried off to bed, while Rikki failed to ceasefire on the questions at myself, basically wanting an exact re-enactment of the happenings of tonight. Being too tired to answer many deep questions after a long night meant that Rikki didn't exactly receive the answers she had wanted, giving up and retiring to her temporary bed before too long.

With the girls in bed in the small shack that housed limited options and opportunities that would not carry the noise around and threatened to awaken the other four, Will and I both decided to crash too. There was one pillow that was available on the lounge and not being used by Tam. That one pillow, along with a few jumpers and one light blanket was the only bedding available between the two of us.

Will and I decided to share the pillow, taking half each with the top of our heads only touching as we both sprawled out on the floor to make one long and tall line, doing so to avoid and obliterate any chances that we could wake up after an uncomfortable nights sleep to discover that at some point we had moved to spoon each other or unconsciously try out any other intimate positions.

I 'bagsed' the blanket while Will took the jumpers to create a marginally comfier environment. While no point of comfort was really reached, my only hope was wriggling around on the floor to find some sort of position that I might actually be _just_ comfortable enough to sleep in.

"Zane" Will whispered in a hiss through the dark, with the noise behind my head being able to be heard clearly. "You still awake?"

"I'm fast asleep. You?"

"Same" my friend replied, joining in the game that I had initiated. "How _did_ things go tonight? Sorry if Rikki and I were being a bit overkill on the questions when you first got back."

I shrugged, a motion that in the dark my friend would not have even been able to see. "I don't know. The end result was good, that's all that matters really, isn't it? I got bored waiting for Bella, Bella got rattled when she left, I got the computer out and she got herself out. I don't get what else there is to talk about and what else you guys want to know."

"Alright then…" Will replied, his wording revealing the fact that he was backing off from the question after my snappy response. "So what about you? What did you four get up to while we were gone?"

"Not much… Tam interrogated me, Rikki snapped at Tam, I snapped at Rikki, Tam was a lifesaver and babysat Allie for me and I tried to reason with Rikki about it."

I could tell that Will's response was a direct response to my snap at his question, mimicking my own manner from a minute earlier.

"Sounds like an exciting night…"

There was a grunt or some form of noise in acknowledgment to my statement from my friend that I could hear through the quiet darkness. "Yeah. Something like that."

"So did Tam and Rikki get a chance to sort out whatever their problems with each other are?"

"Nah. I think we all just used each other to avoid one another. Tam used Allie to avoid Rikki, Rikki used me to avoid Tam, I used Tam to avoid Allie. One big game of happy families."

I scoffed at the explanation, laughing at the irony of how pathetic the strong-willed individuals were all being in regard to facing their demons in each other, when they would usually never even stop to hesitate with thinking before they spoke. Just goes to show that all of us are scared of _something_ and with our own ways of dealing with it.

"I think that they don't know how to go about dealing with each other. I think they need something to intervene and just push them together for once and for all. And when I say _something_, I mean _me_."

Will groaned a little too loudly for our positioning centrally to the other four current occupants in the shack, and a little too loudly given the hour and fact that all of the girls were likely asleep. "What on earth could you possibly have planned to intervene this time? Pashing Tam didn't work out all that well for any of you, did it? It probably just drove them further apart, so you better not turn this into round two."

"No. That's not on the agenda. In fact, think of this as being compensation for the kiss_es_."

My mate hissed at my suggestion, and me, immediately jumping to the worst-case scenario conclusion, which I did not especially blame him for. "Don't tell me you're going to try and give Rikki a kiss or something stupid like that to even out the playing field for those two? You don't play with and tug on a minor's heartstrings, Zane! I don't agree with Rikki's paranoia that she's evil, but you know a woman scorned…"

"I know! I know!" I retaliated out of self-defense. "It's nothing like that. I was thinking about arranging a weekend away for the girls. Somewhere sort of isolated, where they're forced to deal with each other and where they can't just avoid and stay away from each other for the entire weekend."

"A weekend holiday?! That's one hell of a gift, Zane! You can offend me and try to buy make _my_ trust any time you like."

I smirked to my companion and confidant despite the dark, regarding my plan that was only developing in my head as I spoke. "I'm thinking bunk beds, one bedroom cabin, the Glasshouse Mountains…"

"You are evil. You know if your plan doesn't work and they clash heads even more, Rikki's going to come back with Tam in a body bag, not with a newfound appreciation for her. You better not tell the girls that the place will be like that though… Drum it up to sound like some five-star retreat."

"Call me evil? You're just as conniving, my friend… I'll make some calls and arrange it for this weekend in the morning."

"Alright. I might nod off now that you've got that sorted anyway. Night" Will informed me, as I heard rustles in the dark close to me as I assumed my friend was moving around to reach a position of comfort for his slumber.

I too shuffled marginally to try and warm myself with the makeshift blankets on the hard, cold floor we were crashing on. "Night. And make sure you keep your distance from me. I would rather die than wake up to spooning you or anything like that."

* * *

><p>The following morning, my discomfort woke me up from the similar position on the floor as I had eventually dozed off to sleep in.<p>

I slowly and gradually sat up and from my results of gauging the silence since I had woken up, I assumed I was the first one awake. Standing up, it became clearer that Tam was still fast asleep on the lounge, as Will was too from nearby myself on the floor, while there was no trace of the other two girls having woken up either.

Out of boredom, I made my way over to the small sink to first find and then fill a glass with the water that appeared to be the only option in the shack. Tap water, not sparkling, not mineral, not stilled, but _tap_.

"Good morning" I heard from behind me. The voice had startled me not from its familiarity, but from my blasé attitude that was easily startled and lulled into a false sense of reasoning.

As I stopped to face the voice that belonged to Bella, I was startled further by the scene. She was sitting on the bed, her phone in her hands and even more surprisingly was the fact that her daughter was just as awake as she was, sucking a dummy quietly and contently playing with some animal toy as she alternatively swapped from holding it in one hand to her other. "Morning. I didn't think anyone else was up. And hell, that is one quiet kid right there… Is that even possible?"

"She's quiet, but I wish that _I_ wasn't up!" Bella laughed before elaborating on her response. "That's just one of the joys of toddlers!"

"I'm not complaining, she didn't wake _me_, so it's all good… Anyway, I just remembered that I've gotta make a few phone calls before the others wake up."

Bella nodded, too busy preoccupied with handing Allie her phone to play with. "Alright. By the way, thanks again for your help. I know you put yourself on the line in case Dan saw you or anything."

"Anytime" I replied, walking off to make the phone calls outside and away from the listening ear of either one of the two sisters I was trying to avoid…

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><p>Later that day, as we were eating our scrounged together lunch that was really only a somewhat suitable lunch to feed six people, pulled together from the dregs of long life cans and tins of food, I decided to inform the two girls of the arrangements that I had made on their behalf.<p>

"So, have you ever been to the Glasshouse Mountains girls?" I asked, posing the question to Rikki and Tam as I looked between the two of them. The question resulted in the two looking at each other for a momentary flicker of a glance, before they consecutively answered my question.

"Nope" was the first answer that the elder of the two sisters answered, while Tam elaborated on her answer far more than what Rikki had. "Yeah, I went there for a school camp in year six."

I nodded in acknowledgment of the girl's different answers. "Alright then Tam, you can take the lead then."

"Take the lead of _what _exactly?!" Rikki hissed unhappily, and I was actually unable to distinguish whether her fury was sparked from being out of the loop of my surprise plan or that her sister of all people was elected to lead when every man and their dog knew that was _always_ Rikki's self-elected role.

"Cancel your plans, announce it to the news, you two are headed to the Glasshouse Mountains this weekend. Courtesy of yours truly" I informed, grinning with a proud beam as I took in the two different reactions. Rikki looked as though she had seen a ghost, while Tam looked far more calmly content and agreeable as though she was being partnered for a group task at school.

When no 'surprise' or 'gotcha's!' came after thirty seconds of dead silence, Rikki must have realized that there was no joke or punch line behind my announcement as she quickly stood from where she was sitting, moving as far away as possible from us in the room. "I was going to try and give her another shot, but I never, ever agreed to be submissive to your conniving and trickery. Over my dead body will I be forced to spend a whole weekend with _her_! I can think of _so_ many far greater ways to waste my own time."

I guess it is yet to be known whether my money was going to be wasted or not, but Rikki knew I am a rival to her stubbornness, just as she is for my own. Time will tell who is going to be crowned the champion of this round…

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><p><strong><strong>After a long, very sleep-deprived year I was hoping for a bit of a freedom break, but my next few months will be filled with the happiness of bridesmaid's duties, helping one of my best friend's with her engagement party, trips interstate, parties, work and of course keep up with writing this and my other stories more! Bring it!<strong>**

****Next chapter (may change though, long story!): Lewis's illness and helpless guilt leads him on a dark road he has never visited before. ****

****If you people of the FanFiction world get reviewing, I don't mind updating soon-ish as the next four chapters are waiting to get up here!****


	30. Look Into My Eyes

**Eeee! Monumental moment guys! This is my very first chapter as an adult, in some of my first hours of being 18!**

**Anyway, it's also the very last Lewis point-of-view chapter for the first Far From Perfection. Don't worry, he'll be back for the sequel. Maybe...**

**My next month or two is going to be enjoyably hectic with parties, holidays, planing for both, but fortunately the next chapter is ready and waiting to go up. So, what's say you get this to 460 ****reviews ****(my goal is 500 for FFP 1!) and I'll take the time out to update. Deal? **

**Enjoy xo**

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><p><strong>Chapter 30 – Look Into My Eyes<strong>

_Lewis's POV _

Rehab.

I am not a drug or alcohol addict. I am not a 75-year-old geriatric who's pulled his hip out. Again.

Being affiliated with the word 'rehabilitation' felt so, _absolutely_ wrong. I had done nothing to deserve it. In my mind, I knew how to walk, I knew how to talk, I knew how to live my day-to-day life _exactly_ the way I had before the day that I woke up being unable to do any of that.

The way I was being treated felt so wrong. The way people have been tiptoeing around me and speaking as though I am not in the room just because I am unable to talk back is a bitter pill to swallow, but it has been Cleo who is breaking my heart.

I know that she knows how I feel.

I know that she thinks it is just as wrong as I felt it is. It is all in her little exasperated sighs, her half-smiles of attempted encouragement, the way she hesitates to say the tough words…

The little sighs that she tried to conceal were her reaction to news that my doctor would deliver encouragingly about my progress and recovery, but the little sound of exasperation that followed her smile at each piece of news has been her subconscious way of reminding me that I shouldn't have to be making all these small achievements that I had already reached many, many years ago. Her half-smiles are her effort to be positive, encouraging me to do things that we both know I could already do and just as with the sighs, I shouldn't have been needing to reach these small achievements. The way she hesitates to say the words is the denial; that saying what I was achieving is saying outright what she is trying to avoid and what her little mannerisms were saying.

All of this has been killing me lately, and I couldn't do anything about it. I couldn't speak my mind, I couldn't say how wrong it felt and that in my mind I didn't need the rehab, the therapy; in my mind I _am_ recovered. I always have been. The worst part is that I couldn't even comfort Cleo; I still haven't been able to apologize and make up for our fight the day before the Guillain-Barre had reared its ugly head. It was a fight that she had probably long forgotten, but is always in the back of my mind.

Now, I have learnt the reasoning behind the saying of not letting the sun go down with fights unresolved; a mistake I would never make again.

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><p>Later that day my doctor came to my room to inform Cleo that apparently the virus is wearing off and my muscles are returning to normal. <em>Normal<em>. If everything _were_ normal the doctor would be talking to me, the _patient_ instead of my wife with a complete ignorance to the fact that I am in the bed beside her chair. If my muscles _are_ normal and the virus _is_ releasing it's tight hold on my body, why am I still unable to move anything other than my head?

I am so frustrated of being stuck within my own mind and that is only adding fuel to the fire that is beginning to burn within me, after hearing every word that I have tried to speak come out with a completely different translation and as every move I have tried to make never surface physically beyond my mind.

It is all getting lost in translation, but I have no idea how it was ever going be translated ever again. If it is ever going to _be_ translated again…

The doctor began performing mobility test. I am quite used to them by now, but _what_ I am familiar of I wasn't too sure of. Being told to close my eyes as I felt nothing while the doctor or nurse prodded or poked different parts of my body? Being told to try and move my muscles as nothing proceeded to happen? There isn't much other than routine talking to become familiar with.

It is simply my routine loss of dignity, where the doctors or nurses would prove that I can do less and less.

From my bedside, Cleo softly uttered the half-hearted words of encouragement as she looked on intently, as if hoping to witness the sudden miracle that we both wanted. A miracle where at her command, my body would suddenly make the movements needed and I would jump off the bed into her arms; being completely cured and recovered, restored to normal as if there had been no condition in the first place.

There just are no words to describe how deflating it is with every little moment of lost my dignity from every movement that gets lost in translation, never surfacing physically as my mind tries to submit the force to my muscles to make the moves I knew how to make.

"Can you wiggle your toes?" is one of the questions that the doctor asked, frequently, offering the question with an exceptional poker face.

I responded to the action, I did. In my mind, I made the effort and movements, but no physical actions imitated my mental effort to do so. Once again.

The emotionless doctor nodded, as if approving of my lack of mobility, my failure to do anything and proceeded to assumedly write my lack of progress on her patient record board. "Alright, what about your hands? Can you move your fingers for me?"

With my hand that is already outstretched, I attempted to make the movement of a clenched fist to reflect my growing internal frustrations, even anger, as the sort of action that a person like Zane would use to knock someone out in his interpretation of dealing with his temper.

I wasn't expecting anything from my body that had been failing me more often that not of recent times, but when Cleo let out an ear-piercing squeal, I knew that something was either very, very wrong _or_ very, very right.

"He moved! You moved your finger Lewis!" Cleo's excitement is plastered all over her excited face while the doctor barely flinched from the sudden chaos, wearing the far more realistic expression and level headed reaction that I similarly reflected internally.

It just isn't supposed to be like this. Yes, it is an improvement, but really, I should be normal. It isn't fair, it isn't right and there isn't anything I can do about it.

The physical downsides of the disease have been draining to deal with, along with the prospect of having to learn how to walk and learn the physical involvement of living my day to day life all over again. All of that is enough. _More_ than enough...

When the emotional tolls are added to the burden it all becomes too much. While she was excited at this moment, seeing Cleo struggle to support me, knowing all she wants is to be able to talk to me, to discuss how we are going to tackle this and work out a plan to overcome this without doctor's directions and intervening have made it even harder. I am so proud of how emotionally strong and composed she has been since I have woken up, but it pained me to imagine how she would have struggled with the trauma of me waking up that first day, when I had been unable to do anything but pleadingly look at her.

Above all, I have been carrying the guilt and additional pain of knowing it is all my fault. _I_ am the cause of all of this turmoil and heartache. Of course I had no choice or option in the matter and I personally done nothing to specifically trigger this, but it all sprouted from me. Without me, she would not be going through this.

The frustration in my mind with all of my thoughts and actions being lost in translation has acted as the ignition of lighting the fire to my anger that has been beginning to burn and light a blaze. It is infuriating being unable to execute an action that I could envision and feel as though I was performing it perfectly within my mind. The added emotional difficulty of my wife being forced to see me this way fueled the upset in the little moments of being plainly obvious that she is unable to hide her expressions and reactions enough for me to not be able to read and notice. These were all the contributing factors that resulted in me feeling the darkest that I have ever been able to remember experiencing before in my life.

The dark path has been set with the little light in my life being nowhere near enough to provide the illumination and glow of hope that I so desperately needed.

The dark is daunting, but intoxicating. It absorbed the hope until the gloomy thoughts of lightless hopes took me to a place that I felt as though I am helplessly sinking down to. It was a figurative place, that with my condition, is the furthest place of hope and a place in my mind that if not controlled soon, is going to require really hard work in the need to flee from it.

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><p>Later that day, Cleo was still in my room late into the afternoon and early evening while it neared dinner time. She sat slouched in her chair, holding the remote for the television in my room as we both watched the small digital screen from where it hung down from the roof in my room.<p>

Recently, Cleo has developed a means for her to be able to partially understand my wishes. Knowing that my eyes have been unaffected by my Guillain-Barré, she suggested that when given questions, if I agree to the question that is being posed, I should blink quickly a few times, while in contrast if I didn't approve or want to go along with a question then I could clamp my eyes shut for a few seconds to signal a decline.

Using this code, Cleo had channel-surfed through the free-to-air television channels, passing _Big_ _Brother_ where a blonde and brunette girl were in a heated cat-fight argument, which did not catch my fancy at all, as I indicated to Cleo. _Neighbours_ is another option for what was airing currently and I quickly signalled with a tight eye-shut that I _really_ did not want to watch the soap-opera which I knew far more about than what I had ever wanted to, given that Kim insisted upon watching it week-nightly while Cleo and I have been living with her family. Finally we came to the Channel 7 news reports and _Today Tonight_.

"Lewis? Did you want to watch this?"

Only after Cleo asked me the question did I realize that I had failed responded with my eyes, which I proceeded to do, blinking a few times to stay on the channel that had caught my attention.

It was going over the news headlines, some of the happenings –good and bad- which had been taking place throughout the nation, all of which I had mostly been oblivious due to being cooped up in hospital. The place isn't exactly buzzing with current news.

The news highlights flashed passed with only a very brief summary recapping bushfires, typhoons, accidents, global events and crimes until _Today Tonight_ followed it, introducing the story that had captured my attention even more than any of the news pieces had.

The story being presented and introduced is apparently that of a medical phenomenon. A young girl in her early teenage years, a girl with her whole life ahead of her had been diagnosed with a fatal and terminal medical condition that I had never heard of before, just as I had never even known that Guillain Barré had existed before awaking from my coma to discover _I_ had in fact been diagnosed with the rare syndrome.

As I focused intently on the program and on the multiple interviews and narration that informed viewers of the girl's background, her condition and her miracle comeback I quickly realized that it is intended to be a heart-warming story of encouragement and feel-good positivity. It is the sort of thing that Cleo loved to watch or listen to. However, as I concentrated on the story and the interviews with the girl in particular as opposed to doctors or her family, it was almost as though as I could feel her words hitting a sensitive nerve within me.

Earlier today I could recognize that my mood had been sinking deeper and deeper into a depression that is uncommon for me, but it was something that had been on a slow development since I had woken up in hospital.

Although it is going to be a life changing and difficult experience, I have hope. I have every hope in the world to make a full and almost complete recovery to the Lewis that I was at least a month earlier, while there on my screen is a girl who had been told her short life would be coming to an un-comprehendible, and short, end. Yet, _she_ had managed to be the positive, supportive one as her family struggled with the shocking diagnosis that initially did not give her the same hope and second chance that I have.

Fortunately enough for her, her life was incredibly safeguarded somehow, by some amazing chance or miracle. But she didn't know that. All she knew was that her life wasn't going to be what you are raised from childhood to expect to experience.

Then, here I am, pathetically depressed and letting my wife who _I_ should be supporting carry me and my burdens while I still have every hope, with the sufficient hard work being put in.

Those five minutes, that young girl and her miracle are all of the motivation I needed as an attitude changer and eye opener to be able to mentally prepare myself for the physical recovery and ordeal that lay ahead...

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><p><strong>I had SO much trouble with this chapter (it was originally under 2,000 words), so sorry if it is repetitive but do you have any idea how hard it is to write a chapter with absolutely NO dialogue! I'm cursing myself for giving Lewis GBS now haha. There's a reason that this is the last Lewis chapter! <strong>

**Would love to know your thoughts on whether I managed to pull off a speechless chapter or not though, along with absolutely anything else even vaguely related to Lewis, Clewis, the chapter or FFP!**

**_Next chapter:_ Bella persists with trying to get her life back into order, dealing with reestablishing her comfort zone since leaving Daniel. Meanwhile, she confides in Will about a secret she has kept hidden since that night. **


	31. Out of the Comfort Zone

**As a part of my awesome week, thought I'd leave my awesome readers with a cheeky little update! Thank you so very much to those who reviewed the last chapter. You can top off my 'awesome' week by leaving me an awesome review if you like - wink wink. **

**So, cheerio. I'm off to pack my last few things for my flight to Sydney tomorrow morning which marks the beginning of my post-grad girl's week! If I have time, _Far From Perfection_ may also be completed today as the finish line is in sight which will mean 6 more chapters are sitting there ready to spam you with updates! **

**Enjoy and please let me know what you thought! **

**P.S. - R.I.P Nelson Mandela and Paul Walker.**

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><p><strong>Chapter 31 – Out of the Comfort Zone<strong>

_Bella's POV _

I am safe. After months of living in fear and guilt, my little girl and I are finally safe.

With Rikki and Tam away for the next few days and since Zane and Will returned to their own home, Allie and I could finally get settled in the boat-shed while I sorted out our tumultuous lives that had been turned upside down, again.

Honestly, while it was unbelievably reassuring and comforting to know the position of security I was compared to the life of instability I had been enduring over the last few month's with my boyfriend, I hated the changes in our life that had occurred recently.

Ever since I was around fifteen, I had been a loather of change.

As a child it had been exciting never knowing how long you would be in one place, what experiences you'd find in any and every country out there and where you would end up next. But as the child-me, grew into a teenage adolescent, I despised the instability and unpredictability.

I craved the concept of having friends that would stay in touch with me for longer than six months after the novelty of being pen-pals and writing to each other would wear off. I craved the concept of sitting in a classroom, seeing your teacher more than you saw your parents each day, with an assortment of classmates that you either liked or didn't, all being pushed together in the dynamics of a room, with the same purpose to learn.

And that is why the Gold Coast is my favourite place in the world. Sure, it lacks housing the titles of some of the spectacular waterfalls throughout the America's, it lacks the most breathtaking views Europe had to offer and you don't always experience the indescribable vibe of unique cultures or cities in Asia, but the Gold Coast was the first the place I could call home.

Here, my friends lasted longer than any of my others had ever before. I got to experience classrooms and classmates in my last year of schooling before time had run out for me. It was the place where my closest friendships had formed, based on such a unique secret... It is where true love had blossomed and where the most treasured thing in my life had been born.

The issue of change had been something that I had considered many times over my brief stay at the Benjamin's neglected residence. I'd tried to nut out and pinpoint my exact indifference to change and why on earth I have felt _so_ uncomfortable in a place that I had spent _so_ much time in only a couple years ago, especially since I am with my girl, who I am more than comfortable being with after a year of inseparability.

My thoughts that I kept to myself were interrupted by two noises closely followed by one another. Two knocks on the door caught my attention abruptly, shaking me from my daydreaming, while I waited for the words that followed to reassure me that it is safe to answer the door.

"Only me."

The words had barely fallen from my mouth to grant Will entrance before the noise of the door sounded, creaking open in close connection to the familiar voice that had spoken moments ago.

A blonde head ducked past the door and into the room. "Hi. I was in the area so thought I'd pop in and check how you two are... See if you wanted some company?"

"Why not?!" I smile, thankful for a distraction from my ungrateful thoughts of disliking change and being equally thankful for some company that could actually respond to me with answers greater than two or three words. "So what were you doing around here? Spying on us?"

"You wish. I've just been dropping off my resume nearby... I tell you, finding a job on the Coast is like pulling hen's teeth!" he exclaimed dramatically with a touch of exasperation to add to his explanation.

I gestured to the remaining small pile of papers in Will's hands as he flicked them to and fro. "Let me see. I'll see if I'd employ you or not by looking at that."

He let go of the papers and passed them to me and right from my first look at the documents, I tried to hide my true opinion of them to spare Will's feelings. The layout and formatting of the documents was appalling and I hated the fact that I had seen eleven year old's documents that looked more professional than the ones in front of me.

The font is default, tacky, every word on the page is one size, nothing stood out and I nearly had to play hide and seek to find the name of my former boyfriend on the page.

"I know that face, Bells. What's wrong with it?" Will questioned, but it was only as I looked up from my focus on the page that I noticed he had been watching me, trying to read my expression the entire time. Besides, let's face it, the resume looked _that_ awful that no amount of trying or acting classes could have concealed even a fraction of my impression from someone who knew me that well.

"Uh, honestly, I can see some '_adjustments'_ that could be made to it... The first impression of a resume is generally the foremost thing that they will look for when scrounging for future employees.

Will nodded understandingly at my point that I had made a special effort of watering down to feed him a mild version of my opinion. "If you would like me to, I can retype it and format a bit differently?" I offer in expansion to my first response of his resume, purposely doing so before he had the chance to ask me what exactly was wrong with it. Or _not_ wrong with it in this case.

"If you want to and if you're sure you have time, then you can be my guest. I'm not too good with the computer, as you can probably see."

I nodded enthusiastically as Will took a final wary look over the documents that had been returned to him, before passing them back to my possession. "Of course I can do it! It'll be a help to me too since I've been struggling to find things to do when Allie's asleep."

"Thanks. I appreciate it. Hopefully your expertise in the design thing will help with getting at least an interview! Speaking of Allie, where is that kid?"

"Fast asleep" I remarked simply, gesturing to the rooms behind us in contribution to my answer. "I'm expecting her to wake up from her nap at anytime if you wanted to wait around for a cuddle?"

Will nodded, taking a seat in the room, closest to his standing position, appearing to settle as he waited. "Why not?! I had nothing better planned this afternoon and it'll be more affection than I'd get from Zane if I went home... Oh by the way, I've been meaning to ask you, but apart from the obvious, were you okay the other night when you and Zane got back? You seemed really shaken by something, but I wasn't sure if you were just nervous about getting away? I didn't want to ask you in front of the others."

In the past, I have always tried to take the same path that I deemed easier. Although I'm naturally a chatty person, I have always kept the bigger things to myself, any problems in my life. That's the way I prefer to deal with it - alone, impacting as few people as possible and with the persona that nothing has happened or changed. It's been my default since I was young. I believe that is the reason why to this day I have never told my parents of becoming a mermaid. It was why I'd tried to hide the abusive side of my relationship and fix things by myself before the others uncovered the truth and it was why I'd hesitated in telling Will about Allie for so long, even after I'd had chances to.

However, even though I knew I could take the easy way out which would be to avoid the question, just as I had done for the other big one that night. Will had already laid the path out for me to just brush it off, no further questions asked, but something deeper within me needed me to release for a reason I will never understand, so I let it out without giving the confession as much thought as I probably should have.

"The other night, at the dinner, he proposed. Daniel asked me to marry him."

It wasn't until a few moments later that I looked up from the ground that had caught my attention before I noticed Will's fixed expression of shock, until he briefly escaped the fixation to flash a look at my hand, that quickly looked back to my face. "What? Why didn't you say anything? You left him, so you said no, didn't you?"

"No... I said yes, initially" I confessed with a sighed reflection of the happenings of the other night that had all happened so fast that they had the general perception of one big blur.

The thoughts behind the look on his face was hard to read past the confusion, the startling and perhaps even the anger before I could add to my initial answer and explain what he had probably assumed was the mark of me losing my mind.

"It was so public, in front of everyone in the restaurant and he had a ring and everything... It didn't change me leaving him, obviously, but I thought I was doing the right thing at the time since I knew that I would already have to break his heart that night. I didn't want to risk his ego and threaten anything going wrong with trying to get away with Zane in case he flipped. I left the ring at the apartment though... So, I'm pretty sure I'm now eligible for the shortest engagement ever."

Will's shock was clearly evident as he shifted back in surprise, appearing as though he had been winded by the news that I had just confessed. "You're kidding me?! I didn't see that one coming!"

"I did..." I replied with an honest sigh, shrugging his surprise and response off as I recalled past conversations of a similar nature with Daniel. "I'm really not that surprised at all. It was the setting and public proposal that threw me, not the proposal itself. I mean, for months he has been subtly and not-so subtly been hinting at marriage and more kids. I'd always managed to worm myself out of those conversations in the past, but I guess he wasn't happy with that and figured it would be a lot harder for me to do when it's sprung on me in the middle of a restaurant!"

"What a jerk. He really is a control freak, isn't he?"

I nodded my head softly in acknowledgement of the statement that I had been living for the last few months. "Yeah, something like that... But really, I'm not completely innocent either. We were both playing our own games and taking whatever measures that we could to succeed in getting what we wanted."

"True, he was doing anything he could to keep you, while you were doing anything you could to get away from him. At least you won out overall.

"I know, and although I am so grateful that I am safe now, I actually feel quite terrible for stringing him along the way that I did with planning the dinner to get away from him and all that. Regardless of what his motives are, he still had such a display of commitment planned -with a ring and everything- and all the while I was basically planning on double crossing him."

I took a momentary pause to sigh over my negative contemplation's before I continued to speak with the hope of directing our conversation onto a more positive track that would get my mind off of what had been weighing on it rather heavily. "So how did you three go with miss A the other night? Who's more traumatized after it? Allie, or her babysitter's?"

"If anyone, she probably is... We had no trouble with her. She's such an easy kid!"

"I know..." I smiled, listening to the description of my little girl's temperament that I am more than thankful for, before my focus was split from a distraction that I could hear through the paper-thin walls a few rooms away. "I'm pretty sure I can hear her. If she's 'such an easy kid', do you want to go and get her?"

The hesitation quickly infected Will's previously smiling expression. "I don't know... I'm probably not the first person she wants to see when she wakes up."

"Well too bad. For both of you! She should have kept sleeping if she didn't want to see _you_ and you shouldn't have waited around if you didn't want to see _her_!"

Exhaling a sigh of defeat, he wordlessly got up and walked through his former home, returning moments later with a sleepy pink figure, looking much happier as he returned than when he had left. "She sings to herself when she wakes up? Or whatever you call it when she repetitively _'la-la-la's_' to herself?!"

"Most of the time she will, yeah" I confirmed as he returned his gaze to our daughter in besotted amazement.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure I've just found the perfect child."

I laughed at the statement from the amateur father, despite the fact I definitely had nothing to complain about from such an easy girl. However, memories of the sleepless nights from Allie's teething upsets of a few months ago along with the throbbing back pains I had been enduring today after the kicks throughout the night from when her little feet lodged into me since I have been sharing a bed with her last night were harder memories to erase that contradicted his statement.

"Something like that... I'm lucky that for the most part, she's an angel."

"It's not just luck. Allie's a credit to you. It can't have been easy, but I'm sure that you've been working hard at bringing up a beautiful little girl. You know, everyone's proud of you for getting away from Daniel and we don't know how hard that would have been for you, Bells. More than that though, I think you're far stronger than what you realize with Allie to not only have put yourself up to it and be willing to sacrifice the next eighteen years of your life for her, especially when you were alone, but to also be able to do it when I remember that you've never exactly been all for 'team change' and hate any big changes."

The girl in his arms was evidently listening to the conversation that she had no understanding of, her little head darting back and forth between us as she heard her recognizable name.

"Thanks... Strangely enough though, I think accepting the whole prospect that having a baby would change my life was actually harder for me to deal with than raising her has been!"

"That's understandable. I know hard change is for you" Will replied with implications to the initial difficulties that he had experienced with me. Shortly after we had started dating I had found it challenge to change my life to conform to a relationship, which I had told my then-boyfriend about at the time, along with a full explanation of why I had found it so difficult, just to ensure him that it was me that was the problem, not him, so early in our relationship. "But in spite of all that, thank you for not doing anything stupid and not giving her up or terminating the pregnancy when although you know I don't agree with at, ultimately it was your decision."

I shrugged simply before I confessed to a greater detail than I had to most people.

"It's no problem. I know if I had done something like that, I probably would have regretted it later but it didn't make accepting it in the first place any easier. That was the hardest part, just to acknowledge and confirm the pregnancy and accept all the changes that were going to happen. Honestly, I really wasn't that brave at all... I'd suspected I was pregnant within a few weeks of our breakup, but I tried to avoid it for so long that I didn't confirm it until the second trimester, and people didn't know until I was about halfway through because I spent months trying to misdiagnose myself and just hope that all the symptoms were for different things... Food poisoning, the flu, chronic fatigue, anything that helped me to ignore accepting it!"

"Are you for real? Wow... I knew you never really liked it since your life used to be so unsettled, but I didn't realize you were _that_ against change."

I presented him with another shrug and during the time I took to reply, Allie made some of her first noises since she had been taken from the bed after her siesta. The little girl scrunched up her face unhappily, making a similar noise to match with her arms outstretched in my direction. I was surprised she was still wanting to be held and hadn't wanted to bolt around the boat-shed yet. It was only after I took her that she settled and calmed down, allowing me to respond.

"Yeah, I think that is why it's been so hard to adapt since leaving Dan. It's all of these life changes again which is exactly what I want both to avoid for both Allie and myself. I thrive on the feeling of security and the thought of having to rebuild part of my life again is just really scary and daunting and having to settle into a new routine with work and Allie and finding a new place. There are all too many changes for my liking!"

"It'll be worth it in the end" Will smiled optimistically as he took a brief moment to look away and glance at his phone, assumedly checking for the time. "If there is anything I can do to help or make it easier, just let me know, okay? Anyway I better get going, got a couple other things to do this afternoon."

I nodded, gesturing to the resumes that were in my duty of care for editing and modifying that were placed beside me since I had taken Allie from Will. "No problem, thanks for the offer and thank you for dropping in. I'll try to get around to doing them as soon as possible for you while I'm still off work for the next few days."

"Thanks, I appreciate that. Hopefully that might help on the job front then. Anyway, I'll see you girls later" Will said, approaching us to ruffle Allie's hair before making his way to the door.

The girl in my arms giggled at the action. "See ya" I smiled, looking down to Allie at bouncing her lightly with a question and repetition hoping she would repeat the words as she has learnt to do. "Can you say bye-bye to your dad? Bye-bye?"

Pressing herself against me she turned shy as she mumbled 'bye-bye' into my shoulder which only vaguely resembled the words in translation.

"Bye-bye Allie" Will smiled as he moved closer and closer to nearing the door, seemingly pleased by the effort she made as he sent a wave in her direction before leaving with another general goodbye.

After Will left, leaving Allie and I on our lonesome again I pressed a kiss to her hair and reflected on the conversation that had just taken place and considered what had almost became the topic of the day; change.

It was like one of the '_We're Going On A Bear Hunt'_ children's storybooks that I would read to Allie at night.

The repeated lines of: _'We can't go under it, we can't go over it, we have to go through it_' ringed familiarly and echoed within my mind. I couldn't avoid it, I couldn't change it, I just had to get through change.

Plucking my phone out of my pocket I had to just about dare myself to look at the device's screen.

_Daniel (37). _

I sighed at the name and figure of missed calls next to the name, along with a brief list of some of the text messages that were alternated between phone calls. Unlocking the screen which immediately skipped through to the missed calls page, I took note of the frequent phone calls since I had last checked my phone, with some taking place all within one minute of each other or with a five or ten minute break in between some of the calls which stopped several hours ago, an unusual finding for the pattern of panicked calls, while caused me to reach my own conclusion.

After that strange point of time and end to calling, I assumed that Daniel had been served the A.V.O. and at this point, seemed to be obeying the law I had taken into my own hands to secure my daughter and I.

That was another change on a much smaller scale, but nonetheless equally as frightening as all of the other life changes that were requiring my attention.

The cold hard fact of all change is that it means being pulled out of your comfort zone... Which can be even harder than change itself.

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><p><strong>So. Thoughts, feelings or anything else related to this chapter? When I'm happy with the quantity of reviews, I put chapter 32 up. The more reviews, the sooner it's up.<strong>

**What do you think of the Bella/Will/Dan/Allie situation now? Can anyone else relate to Bella's reluctance towards change? And was Bella right to initially accept the engagement or has she caused more damage than she intended? **

**Oh, there is still so much left to happen in this storyline. Just you wait, but the climax is in sight. Let me know if you think that you can pick what's going to erupt very, very shortly...**

**Next chapter: One Day At A Time... Cleo is urged to get her life back on track as Lewis, slowly but surely, makes progress. **


	32. One Day At A Time

**And once again, we're another chapter closer to the conclusion of the first "Far From Perfection!"**

**Anyway, it has even been a month since my last update, but I have had a CRAZY few weeks! Just in the last few, I have crammed two holidays, one of my best friend's engagement party (including prep the day before). It's all exciting (aside from the same best friend being hospitalized a few days after the party!) and is just marking the beginning of summer. ****The first holiday was so jam-packed and while I wasn't completely dormant on the second, it was good to relax for a while, swim, jetty jump, laze around and trial new alcoholic beverages from Mango liqueur to Chocolate wine. **

**Sydney, as always, was just awesome... Got to do all sorts around the city; from cruises, to theater performances, to bumping into Reece Mastin and Rhiannon Fish sitting on the table beside us, to getting up to Palm Beach and meeting cast members of Home & Away, visiting the sets of the show and being chosen (with 3 others) out of about 30 fans to be in the background of a scene they were filming! **

**Also, I can't quite remember, but this may well be the last Cleo-centred chapter for the first story (aside from the 'all in' final chapter!). ENJOY! xox**

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><p><strong>Chapter 32 – One Day At A Time<strong>

_Cleo's POV _

As the weeks progressed, so did Lewis.

Every rehabilitation session he participated in, he had been working hard to be able to move his muscles that one centimetre more or could hold a grasp on something for one second longer.

The improvements were only small, taking little baby steps, but it still was movement and _progression_. At this stage, that was the best that both of us could hope for aside from the dream of an unrealistic miracle.

While life had inevitably moved on, while I had barely left Lewis' unconscious and conscious side for the last month, the progression of the outside world was a fact that I realized I was going to have to acknowledge to a greater degree.

The last four or five weeks had been about Lewis, with my life moulding around the new waters we had been thrown into with the Guillain-Barré diagnosis.

However, now as the water were settling, growing calmer with every new day, I was prompted to the realization that my _own_ life needed to revert back to the day-to-day reality that I had sacrificed for Lewis's care, after a conversation that my dad had initiated with me.

I had spent many nights at hospital, either settling in the guest room with the ward's uncomfortable foldout beds. Or, if there was a particularly nice nurse doing night shift when I was still there they would wrangle a foldout bed from the maternity ward that's use was directed towards father's or another particularly close friend or family member staying overnight to support mother's of newborn babies. Although nowhere was more comfortable than my own bed, at least the foldout beds were more relaxing than falling asleep in the seats in Lewis's room and waking up with a crick neck and massive headache that maintained it's hold for the entire day.

The foldout beds and the seats that weren't supposed to be used for sleeping were all options that I favoured over optimal comfort...

Somehow, the cricked neck and explosive headaches were all better than the feeling of going to bed in a cold, empty bed that made it difficult to sleep after being used to the creature comfort of sleeping with someone else. Sleeping at home was so hard, that on the occasions that dad would drag me home, and after several hours of sleeplessness had passed I had gotten into the habit of sneaking out of the house at stupid hours in the night to go from a swim, sometimes even making it out to Mako Island to try and induce some form of tiredness that made it possible for me to sleep.

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><p>In another facet of my life, my reputation, dedication and effort that I had poured into my job at the marine park for the last few years meant that my bosses and supervisors were more than understanding about requiring impromptu time off indefinitely, due to the urgency of Lewis unforeseeable medical condition, which meant slicing through my built up annual leave.<p>

I didn't know how many days of leave I had left, but I knew that I would be nearing the end of my occupational savings.

Additionally, as my dad had pointed out to me, that while we both still need each other for support Lewis had reached a point of his recovery that meant that he didn't need me for every waking moment. It was also not as though he would wake up to find me gone, as had been my initial concern during his GBS-induced coma.

All of those reflections were what brought me to the present moment... straightening the neglected aqua-coloured work uniform on my body that had gone unexpectedly untouched for the last weeks, neglected from its previous use, almost-daily.

After I had dressed myself, I opened the door of my childhood bedroom. The bedroom was once again solely mine, with the other occupant still cooped up in hospital.

"Knock, knock" a male spoke from his spot as he leant against the wood of my door's frame.

"How are you doing, Cleo?" my dad added before I had the chance to welcome him into my room during the time it took me to spin and face the voice; the voice I could recognize without requiring to see him.

"I'm okay… Actually, I feel a bit strange. I feel like I'm 17 again... Just like when I was younger and I wanted my shift to be over before it's even started so that I can meet up with Lewis and spend the rest of my day with him. And I haven't felt this many butterflies in my stomach for work since my first day!"

Without needing my approval to enter my room (not that I minded), Dad walked in, and headed directly for me as his slow steps eventually led him to in front of me. He pulled me into a hug as his arms wrapped around my back with an extra squeeze of reassurance.

"Don't worry sweetheart, work will go fine. I'm sure they'll take it easier on you, while the doctors and nurses will be there for Lewis if he needs it. It's _your_ turn to spend a little bit of time focusing on getting _your_ life back on track."

I nodded, in complete understanding of the point my dad was trying to make. But just because I understood what he was saying and what he meant, it didn't make the situation any easier to deal with…

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><p>Earlier that day, dad had reassured me of how easy work would be. That everyone knew the situation I had been in since I last worked a shift and that they would take it easy on me.<p>

He was not kidding.

I knew my colleagues had been trying to do it to make my first day back at work as stress-free as possible to warm me back into the work cycle again, but all day I had nothing to do. It was like having the day off work, but having to be there and walk around all day, trying to find things to do, but being declined by everyone. The most I had been assigned to do was scoop one ice-cream order while someone needed a toilet break and then a little later, Laurie let me feed RV and Jemima.

In my return to work, what I needed was distractions.

I needed the time to go quickly. I needed to be _allowed_ to do my job. By sugar coating my day and wrapping me in cotton wool, protecting me from any of the stresses or difficult aspects of work it had made the day feel ten times longer. The lack of physical activity allowed my mind, in its boredom, to wander. And wander, my mind did... It wandered back to Lewis, it wandered back to my increased paranoia that I had developed since my husband had been unexpectedly admitted to hospital and it wandered back to the worst moment of my life when I first discovered that Lewis had been unable to move, the morning that the Guillain-Barré hit the hardest.

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><p>When the clock hit 5 P.M., I felt the most relief, being able to finally get back to the hospital in time during the visiting hours bracket, to be able see Lewis. The visit was the relief needed to ease my paranoia and anxiety experienced with the first steps to recovering and restoring my own life, to the way it had been before the disease struck.<p>

As I glided through the corridors with an ease of confidence, I considered how shaken up and lost I felt when I had first been introduced to this ward. I didn't have any idea of how ill Lewis was, why Lewis was sick and what it meant long-term.

While I weaved through the maze of corners and doors that looked the same, a part of me did still wish to be restored to the way I was, with all the hope in the world for an overnight recovery, a simple fix and cure for Lewis.

Now, I felt completely familiar with the hospital that previously in my life, I had been fortunate enough to not have many experiences with and over a month, I had gotten to the point of feeling so familiar with Guillain-Barré Syndrome that I could just about write a book on it. The slowest days where Lewis was still unconscious in the induced coma, when I spent my days waiting and wishing for him to wake up, I would spend the time on my phone, researching, searching, reading every article I laid my eyes on regarding the condition that my husband had been unknowingly diagnosed with. I, on the other hand, was all too familiar with it.

I knew exactly what lay ahead of us… I understood all the pain, all the effort and all the work that was going to be required to restore both of our lives back to normal…

I knew we were only left with the option of being forced to patiently, and simply take one day at a time.

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><p>"Hey" I greeted as I walked straight into Lewis's room as I reached it, not waiting for permission or acceptance of knocking while I entered, forcing up the best smile I could possibly make under the circumstances.<p>

While his body barely moved a muscle, I could see the attention I had claimed from Lewis in his eyes, as his focus was altered from looking out at nothing, to the presence of the slight smile I was able to see in his eyes on occasion.

I headed directly for his bedside, taking my usual position in my usual chair, shuffling it closer to his bed as I comfortably leaned against the mattress to get nice and comfortable for talking to him.

"I tell you, I am so glad that today is over!" I confessed to Lewis, making a conscious effort to try and maintain the smile that I had walked into his room with, for as long as I possibly could. "I felt like I was doing as much work as a tourist walking around the park was! I really shouldn't be complaining, I guess. Normally it'd be great, but the day felt so long because I just walked around and thought about you…"

Despite revealing all of my feelings and thoughts about my day to a person for the first time today, I couldn't view sitting there talking to Lewis as wasted because I knew that passed him watching the night news every day, talking to him about the world outside the hospital was the avenue that he was being able to live day to day - through me.

"I hope you had a good day… But I'm sure you were glad to be rid of me for a couple of hours!"

The smile in Lewis's eyes presented itself again, acting as the illumination of amusement from my one-sided conversation that was directed at him, and for his sake.

I mentally considered any other interesting factors of the day that I could talk to Lewis about to entertain him, and decided I could explain the development and planning of some of the park's new exhibitions which was supposed to being kept strictly confidentially between employees.

However, just as I began to inform him of the African Jungle animals they were coordinating to import for the Marine Park, I was left completely shocked and unprepared for some sort of response from the person who I had expected to stay still and silent.

As Lewis's fingertips moved slowly, an action that he had been working on with his physio for the last few days, I had only expected the movement to stop with the small flinches… _Not_ to continue moving towards my own hand, slowly opening as the tip of his fingertips gently attached to my hand.

It was the first time that we had held hands for weeks when the action wasn't initiated and carried out by me. This time, _he_ had initiated it and with a very weak and gentle squeeze on what he had managed to grasp onto.

I was speechless… I was completely unprepared for that. I was ecstatic that Lewis had not only experienced another little breakthrough with his recovery as he climbed and overcame another hurdle on his road to recovery which I was happy for him about, but the fact that it was a small display of his gratitude, his thanks and his love made it all the more special to me.

It was such a small gesture and it was only his attempt of a mild embrace, but never had I appreciated a touch of his hand so much as I did in this beautiful moment with the man I loved, reminding me of why I had been putting forth so much effort and self-sacrifice to help him bounce back from this stumbling block that his life had taken a big fall from.

While I didn't separate the touch of our hands and I didn't break the effort that he had made to touch my hand, I moved my free hand to join ours as I took Lewis's hand in my two securely, to double the action that he had made, an action which I admittedly had spent my life taking for granted when I see how hard and how much effort needs to be put forth when you lose full capability of your muscles.

With our three limbs branched together in connection to one another, I pressed a gentle, lingering kiss on his hand that he had used to put forth an effort, enveloping, cradling and treasuring it in between my own two hands.

It wasn't the greatest embrace that we had ever found each other in, not by a long shot... The enjoyment of our relationship wasn't the most dominant feeling and we weren't revelling at being the most in love we had ever been in. It wasn't any of those feelings or special unforgettable moments.

Instead, it was the sort of pivotal moment that made you remember _just_ the foundations of life and love.

It was just being there.

Our situation wasn't ideal, and right now, both of our lives were so far from perfect, but it was a sweet moment nonetheless. It was a small display and reminder that even though neither of us is as strong as some others are, we were still there for each other, supporting each other as we tried our hardest to get through the struggles...Being there to pull the other one up if they needed it.

It exemplified our marriage…our strength and commitment to each other. Even though it wasn't the _best_ point in our relationship, it showed that we were both still there… That both of us still _wanted_ to be there, reaffirming our vows and marital commitment. In good times, and _bad_…

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><p><strong><strong><strong>Anyway, thank you to all of my lovely reviewers who took the time out to share their thoughts on the last chapter and I kindly ask for anyone and everyone to do the same with this chapter! I absolutely appreciate each and every one of you out there.<strong>****

**Next chapter: Rikki and Tam set off for their own make-or-break weekend and both girls put everything on the line. Walls are up and walls come down, but will the result be for the better or worse of the sisters?**


	33. Away From It All

**Ma first update of 2014!**

**Sorry. Was wanting this one to be up earlier, but due to unforeseen circumstances (A.K.A. a 10 page long job application!), updating this got put on the back burner. Not to mention, I think 99% of my brain cells have been fried this extraordinarily hot summer. Thursday was expected to get to 46 degrees (****Cels.), which I looked up and is 114.8 degrees Fahrenheit for all my Fahrenheit-followers. SO close to breaking the record for the hottest day ever where I live (which is 46.1), but it was still the hottest city in the WORLD on Thursday.**

**My brain doesn't cope too well in the heat, so, my apologies if this chapter makes little/no sense. I did proofread it, I promise!**

**P.S. Thank you to all my ultra-awesome readers and especially the reviewers of the last chapter. I have been waiting ALL year to tell you that! Haha ;) (I think I love New Years jokes way too much!). **

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><p><strong>Chapter 33 – Away From It All <strong>

_Rikki's POV _

Tam is not my favourite person.

That is no secret.

However, within minutes of beginning Zane's forced weekend away with her (which he had eventually blackmailed me into accepting), I had discovered that she really is not my favourite person to travel with either. By any stretch of the imagination.

We had barely left home, not even making the short distance to Broadbeach from Surfer's Paradise before she had started grumbling about being hungry.

From her first whinges after we passed the initial golden arches of the first of many _McDonald's_ (on the trip that would take nearly two hours of driving), I had to remind myself that I was in the company of a _sixteen_ year old… Not a whiny and hungry _six_ year old. The two ages were surprisingly easy to mistake for one another right now.

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><p>"It's very nice here…" Tam judged as she scanned our accommodation upon arrival, after we left the confines of the car that we had been pushed in to travelling in and spending the last couple of hours in it together, to reach our gift destination. I had no choice in the transportation matter.<p>

All-in-all, the trip hadn't been very interactive, with me focusing on driving, using that excuse to hush any of Tam's attempts to speak until she eventually gave up and succumbed to focusing on the scenery and views for the majority of the drive.

"It's the nicest place I've ever stayed at… Not that I've been on a trip in a while" Tam added, before moving her body and her focus back over to my car.

"Well, _you_ obviously don't know Zane Bennett very well then… Anything that is less than the best is absurdly unacceptable."

As we pulled our bags out of the car to transfer them into the accommodation, I started to realize the catch of this trip and the wavelength that Zane was on when he booked this particular place… And _why_ he had done so. Although it looked lavish and fancy, the dimensions of the makeshift house were pokey, small and confined… Very much isolated and out of the way from other civilization and other people.

Honestly, I really would not be surprised if it were a honeymooner's cabin, where having nothing else to do and nowhere else to go besides one another's sides would be anything but a problem.

The same concept of confinement to a small space was _not_ meant for two feuding sister's.

As I pulled out the key card that Zane had presented me with earlier to unlock the accommodation, I quietly hoped that (as they _occasionally_ had the habit of being) my suspicions about Zane were wrong, and that what did not look very spacey from the outside was really just a misunderstood palace.

Wrong.

While I groaned upon opening the door, beside me, Tam looked completely engrossed with our new surroundings.

"I'm going to kill him…" I muttered harshly under my breath as I furthered my position in the cabin, walking through and searching for some reason to stop me getting back in the car, doing another two hour trip back to the Gold Coast to slaughter Zane slowly and painfully while I left Tam here.

Maybe this was really going to be a blessing in disguise! Even prosecutors and judges would be unable to deny the unlawful act of torture that I was pushed into enduring.

"You can sleep on the toilet, in the shower, on the table, wherever you want as long as it's not in the double bed with me," I explained to Tam as I explored the small cabin with limited furniture, limited entertainment and limited space. The less that I discovered there was here, the more my fury grew. Zane really had no idea what he signed up for and what was coming for him after his intentionally conniving plans.

I dumped my bags that I had pulled out from the car in one of the few corners in the cabin that were free from furniture, doors or so forth.

"I need a walk. I'll be back in a bit" I quickly informed Tam before hurrying out of the door, getting out of the place as fast I could and not spending any time to linger longer than I had to.

I retrieved my phone from its tightly nestled position within my pocket, extracting it and taking my anger out on the touch screen as I scrolled down to second last name on my contacts list, the name above only Zeke, my colleague from work. I tapped the name and number that followed it furiously and held it up to my ear.

"Emergency calls only. Goodbye" a computerized voice informed me unexpectedly as I had been waiting for the equally as computerized dial tones.

I spent a moment considering the four word message that was as equally as impersonal to me as it was to every other person that would have heard the last message that I wanted to hear right now... However, if the voice recording _knew_ the situation I was in, I believe that they would be moved by such pity that they would do anything in their power to help me out. Just short of building a whole other station or telephone pole for phone reception to enable me to yell down the phone at Zane, the evil mastermind who threw us into the world's smallest, isolated and boring cabin without phone and internet service.

In my increasingly furious state, I attempted to justify the conniving with the reasoning that if I was moved to take physical action against Tam and boil her like a saucepan of water over the course of this weekend, and if she didn't get treatment she needed in time, her death would be on Zane's hands…

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><p>I took my time to defuse, walking around the cooler scenic and bushy location before I eventually built up the courage to make my way back to the cabin, to attempt to deal with the person I would give up one of my own kidney's to avoid.<p>

As I approached the glass sliding door that opened into our ridiculously small cabin, I stopped in my tracks for just a moment.

Tam was sitting on a lounge chair, doing nothing, holding nothing, engaged in nothing. She appeared to just be staring at the wall, possibly daydreaming or perhaps if she was that sort of light sleeper, sleeping with her eyes open. Whatever she was doing didn't matter; it was her appearance that wordlessly told me the whole story.

… She didn't look like the feisty, mirror-image replication of myself, how she would look when we would use our sharpest words to fight off against each other and defend our pride or motives in a verbal round of sword fighting.

… She didn't look like the smiling young woman who would greet anyone who walked into the room and be one of the first to help out and make her stay with me and the other boys as unburdening as possible.

… She looked _sixteen_...For the very first time.

She looked small, maybe even a little weak and vulnerable. She didn't look like the same girl who would fight in her own defense against my probably unnecessary attacks as though the age difference between us was no issue in the slightest. She didn't look like the strong, confident girl who appeared completely comfortable in any situation and with any person, be it my housemates or I.

… The most startling facet of her appearance was that she looked even more like _me_.

She looked like the same weighed down sixteen year old that I had been. For the very first time I could see _her_ walls come down...the walls that I had never knew had existed before this very moment. Her walls were so natural that she didn't appear to fight with the same effort that I had to keep them up. The only explanation for her ease was that she had so much practice with guarding herself, and while my own faux walls were crafted from a carefree spirit and comfortably being a loner, Tam's were significantly more friendly and natural. But it was those moments when you are alone, when you need to pull your walls down and recharge their power to keep living your façade when you could really see a true person as they remember who they are, too.

I didn't blame her for having her castle walls, her protection from deflecting the difficulties of day-to-day life. In fact, I tried my hardest not to pity her. I didn't want to pity her. I didn't even want to feel anything towards her.

I hadn't realized that the walls that were guarding me from caring for my sister had slowly been being chipped away at, weakening. I had been trying to ignore the slow and gradual crumbling of my minds creation of my mother and the life she had lived, with my sister, since she had left. However, the figment of my imagination for all of those years that my mum had left us was so warped from the reality of it.

While I never appreciated being wrong, it was deeper than that and it spread to ruining my coping mechanism for dealing with my mother leaving… When I imagined the perfect life that I thought she would be leaving us for, and henceforth the life that my sister had inherited, it fueled by ability to be able to hate her, and then Tam too when she came into my life. It was my coping mechanism for being able to hate her lifestyle, hate her selfishness, telling myself that I had no desire, want or need for her in my life when that was the sort of life she had created for herself at the sacrifice of my dad and I.

However, the fact of the matter was that even though I wanted to hate Tam for living the perfect life our mother had given me up for to live the most of my life and the entirety of Tam's, I'd had dad and Tam had mum. I've had my problems that made my life hard, and Tam's had her problems that made her life hard… Our mum _isn't_ living in the lap of luxury. But she also isn't living each day feeling as though she was missing a part of herself from not having me in her life.

Just as she had selfishly neglected her care for _me_ by taking off, she had also selfishly neglected the girl I had been willing myself to do anything but accept as my sister, for her own needs.

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><p>"Hey" Tam quickly greeted as the noise of opening the squeaky glass screen-door caught her attention, snapping her out of her thoughts and immediately putting up her walls. "Enjoy your walk? Is there much to see around here?"<p>

I shook my head to partially answer her questions, in an attempt to bite my tongue and avoid confronting her straight out about her own walls. "No. Nothing at all."

I quickly left the room and made the decision to leave the matter alone for now and use my knowledge of Tam's walls for later, at a better moment and point of time…

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><p>A while later we had just finished eating lunch which Tam had offered to make (even if it was only toasted cheese and spaghetti sandwiches). I'd done the dishes to counteract the work of her cooking, before looking for something else to do, wondering how else I could kill the time I was imprisoned with my sister.<p>

"What are you planning on doing now, Rikki? Zane didn't really leave us with an endless supply of entertainment options..." Tam mused from across the room as she opened and shut drawers and cupboards around the small cabin room. Normally this action would be considered weird or unusual, but I wasn't really one to judge remembering that I had followed a similar pattern of boredom earlier, looking through the cupboards for the hope of uncovering something vaguely interesting. Instead, the only results of the search had only concluded in finding four coat hangers, a small heater, address and phone directory and the King James Version of the Holy Bible.

"Don't know. I was going to go through a couple of theories of how I could murder Zane and categorize them into practicality and how effective or satisfying they would be. You can give me some suggestions if you wish."

While I could see Tam fight a smile of amusement at my comment, being suppressed by a sigh, it was only when she started to speak that I noticed the conflict between what she felt and what she believed.

"I agree, Zane deserves to be punished, we can work out how to get back at him later, but he has a point. It takes confining us in the middle of nowhere to get us to bond, so I know I've suggested this several times, but shouldn't we at least give it a go?"

My initial knee-jerk reaction was to decline and put down Tam's suggestion, as I had done so for several months now, but as I remembered the girl without the walls, I felt more inclined to accept the offer so I could get to know her better and understand what _her_ walls were guarding. Even if I was unsuccessful, it would at least give me something to do and occupy myself, killing the time that was creeping by way too slowly.

"Okay then… Bonding… What do you suggest? It's been a while since I've read: '_Bonding with Illegitimate Sister's for Dummies'_."

"Well... Its cliché, I know, but we could always play truth or dare. It's a good, honest way of getting any doubts of each other we have out in the open... And if either of us answers dishonestly and the other one of us catches it or has reason to believe so, that person has to... Sleep outside, in the cold, wildlife-infested wilderness of the Glasshouse Mountains! Deal?"

"Deal... I'll start with a truth. Have you had a boyfriend before?"

Tam laughingly rolled her eyes as she got comfy in her position closer to me. "Wow and I thought truth or dare was a cheesy option... _That_ question oozes it!"

"Answer the question already, kid" I answered back simply and intolerantly, noting the hesitation that Tam took to answer the question after she had batted off the humour.

"No. No I haven't" Tam finally responded, all the while I raised one suspicious eyebrow at my sister.

"What is with your hesitation...? Care to explain that?" I questioned, raising my skeptical view at her answer.

Tam replied back to my speculative query, with a smirking shrug that lacked any further explanation of her initial comment. "I answered your question, didn't I? Asking anything else exceeds your question limit..."

"Fair enough," I answered back with the smugness of my response and my voice matching that of hers. It is as though the sharp replies and feistiness of our personalities which is what keeps our walls up, is actually far more similar than I had ever realized before this point. Besides, I knew I would be able to bring up the right questions to know what I _really_ wanted to know throughout this stupid game of truth or dare instead of badgering her over the pointless of minuscule and mediocre facts.

"My turn then... I'll stick to the theme you set. Truth. Why didn't you tell me that you and Zane were together and how long since you guys broke up?"

I rolled my eyes at the question, only realizing after fulfilling the action how the trait had almost mirrored Tam's in her reaction to my initial question that had begun our 'bonding' session.

"Firstly, that is actually two questions, but I cannot be bothered arguing, _because_ 1. Zane is old news... 2. I also didn't bother to feel the need to inform you of 2009's Black Saturday bushfires in Victoria, just in case you didn't already know about it, but I can get you up to date with those events too, if you like? I broke it off with him around 3 or 4-ish years ago... I don't count the days, sorry."

She nodded as I fed her my multiple answers, with the sarcastic modifications and additions I made to the response which could have been far simpler. There was a pause from either of us talking, with the silence prompting me as a reminder that it was now my turn to ask another of the questions I was so longing for an answer to.

"Okay... You know that I've been skeptical about you since you turned up. I dare you to give me one reason or instance that you've proved me right. Tell me something that you've said or that you've done to me which was a lie."

Tam let out a really deep sigh before proceeding to answer the question I posed to her about her motives. "I know I've always said that turning up here was never about the money, but honestly, for about five minutes it was. I had this brief dream when I first heard about dad dying that I might have been able to inherit a few thousand and that I could start living my life the way I wanted to down the coast and away from mum. I promise you though, Rikki, the second that I walked in the door and first met you was when it hit me that I truly had a sister and that not all family could be completely monstrous. From that first minute, knowing you was all I was interested in. I didn't even have to know that dad was flat-broke to decide that."

"Wow..." I barely managed to say. For the first time I _finally_ had the ammunition that I had been dying for to ridicule my sister. The truth that Tam hadn't been all about knowing me from day dot and that at one point she was interested in the money was just what I needed. However, unfortunately for me, it was also the first time that I was completely uninterested in holding what I could against her, since I could read the genuineness of her confession.

"Thank you. Thank you for telling me."

She shrugged as though she had to make the decision about paying an extra 5 cents for a plastic bag at the shops or not. She shrugged like it was no big deal. "You asked me a dare, so I told you the truth about it. It wasn't really that worth holding onto to risk a night outside..."

There was another silence before Tam was prompted to pose another truth or dare question to me, as the momentary pause had reminded me to do so before.

"Truth this time... I want to know why you got so flared up when you caught Zane and I kissing if he is 'old news' to you. Like how you compared not telling me about Zane to Black Saturday, I don't get sad and start crying like I did when I first heard about the hundred that died that weekend. Emotions wear off in time, but that still seemed fresh for you."

For the first time in quite a while, I was rendered speechless. There were very few moments that my tongue would fail me to produce a sharp comment in retaliation, but this is one of those moments. I didn't know what to say.

Firstly, if I had needed any proof passed our blaringly obvious physical appearances that Tam is in actual fact my sister; then that is it right there.

Not only had she somehow managed to use my verbal combating to kamikaze straight back into me, which takes some serious effort and luck, but she had also raised a question in a manner that was almost as though she knew I didn't have an answer to it.

"Honestly, I don't really know. I guess it's not one of those things you prepare yourself for... You don't expect to see an ex-boyfriend-slash-current housemate and your sister slobbering all over each other on a normal day."

Tam nodded, before quickly adding a comment while she had the chance to and before the ship sailed. "I'll forfeit a turn to ask you a question if it's okay for me to ask you a second question in a row? Can I?"

"Fine..." I agreed, far too freely and without realizing in the slightest that I already should have started to dig my own grave.

"Have you had another _serious_ boyfriend since Zane...?"

"No."

There was no number of acting lessons or forging history rewrites that would change the fact that Zane had been my last and only serious boyfriend, which really, for a 22 year old was quite tragic.

I doubted and never really believed that the guy had ever been the love of my life, but it was only when Tam raised the question that I had realized that for some unbeknownst reason, I never really had moved on after him after he allowed his hunger for power and riches slowly get between and chip away at our relationship, proving his true love and where his loyalties laid.

"I'm going to take a stab in the dark here, and I know that I do risk receiving an _actual_ stab from you by doing so, but I think that you still have feelings for Zane, Rikki."

As soon as the words had left Tam's mouth, I scoffed in a disgusted retaliation.

"You have got to be kidding me! Just because I'm focused on living my own life and not involving myself in relationships, means I'm not over Zane because he was the last guy I was with?! Give me a break... Now my dare for you is to 'shut up about Zane'."

"Fine, there's no way for me to really tell that you're lying and that you have to stay outside, but I'm just saying, the signs are all there, Rikki. Perhaps you've spent the last 3 or 4 years trying to unsuccessfully be able to override them instead. Just calm your farm and I'll drop it."

I didn't reply to Tam's elaboration on her latest prediction, instead using silence and my lack of response to hopefully signify the calming of my 'farm'.

"My _second_ turn... I want to know the truth about if you could, what is one thing that you would change about your past?"

There was another pause as had become a frequency over the course of the day as I allowed my question to sink in as Tam pondered an answer to it.

"I know that it's the answer you're expecting, and I know you'll mock it because you were expecting it, but honestly, I wish that I could change what happened with mum and dad, or even just when it happened. If I could, I'd at least slow down time so that you and dad could have known about me and so that I could do something about knowing you earlier. Either that or, I know it's morbid, but stop me from existing at all."

I nodded slowly and read the much younger girl's expression knowingly. "No, I understand. Sometimes you just wish you could be anywhere and anyone but yourself. I felt a little bit like that when I was your age. Of course, I didn't know I had a kid sister out there to deal with too!"

"Yeah," Tam replied and I could hear the reluctance in her voice through the one word, which made sense when she quickly diverted the subject back to its main theme and course. "Anyway, I've got another truth for you. I want to know, what's the kindest thing that anyone has ever done for you?"

I considered Tam's question mentally, silently and privately and the first answer that shot to my mind relatively quickly was my own name... My name, which Zane had used as the base of his business; _Rikki's Cafe_... Using my name was his display of commitment and kindness; if you ignore the typically Zane fact that he had stolen my idea in the first place, before allowing the business to go ka-put.

However, that first answer that was born within my mind never surfaced to my sister's ears and did not become publicized between us.

"Um, probably Cleo wanting me to be her maid of honour when she married Lewis. Especially because she asked me, despite the fact she could have used her little sister Kim. That meant a lot to me... Anyway, it's my turn again. What about you? What's the kindest thing anyone's done for you?"

"It was probably when you and the boys offered for me to move in with you guys. I know it's pretty stupid and only recent, but I've never really been given many 'gifts' or random acts of kindness and it might not seem like it since I'm outgoing, but I tend to be a bit of a loner."

This afternoon, and especially after the seed had been planted within my mind, my reasons to believe just how similar my sister and I were, even if I had wanted to deny it the most part, just kept on expanding. Every word she spoke was giving me more and more reason to helplessly believe her and her motives.

Aside from her natural inclination to dream about what could have happened if there was money to save her from her undesirable life, she isn't a money-hungry teenager who wants to hit the jackpot and never work another day in her life. She isn't a scoundrel with a secret agenda to worm her way into my life, only to betray my trust. She isn't a dodgy stranger. She's just a young girl who is trying to find her way in life, passed the family difficulties, seeking out relationships that separate her from loner tendencies she's fallen into in the past. She's just like me at her age; she's just like _me_ before I found my way and identity shortly after meeting Cleo and Emma...

"My turn... Rikki, I've got a dare for you now... I dare you to trust me. I want you to give a chance and actually trust me. I want you to actually do it with a hope in me, instead of just doing it half-heartedly to shut Will and Zane up."

"I will" I answered back solemnly, affirming my answer with a slow, confident nod. I knew there was still a chance that I might regret it later, but I owed it to Tam to help her out the way that the girl's helped me. I could never be sure that I am making the right decision, but Tam had given me far more of a reason to trust her than I had ever given Cleo or Emma for a long time. It was my turn to let what went around, come back around.

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><p>"Honey's! We're home!" Tam bellowed out from the front door of our share house as we entered our home for the first time in a few days.<p>

Consecutively, two boys came out from two different directions with Will plodding down from upstairs after assumedly surfacing from his bedroom, while Zane came from the lounge/family/dining room that I had no doubt he had been monopolizing with us girls away.

While Will firstly began with offering a greeting and hug as we all stood idly in the entrance, Zane failed to share the same kind of tact and self restraint.

"So how did it go girlies? I hope it wasn't a waste of my money."

Tam and I shared a glance at each other, knowing exactly where we would proceed from that point.

"Well, it was, actually. You are in an idiot for thinking that confined spaces would fix anything from getting more familiar with every tiny detail on each other's faces" I scoffed at the unimpressed brunette, with the taller blonde beside him gloating silently at his reaction to his own failure, that honestly, hadn't exactly failed, but we weren't going to let him have the glory of knowing that just yet!

With a final glorious look at Zane's horrified face as he absorbed the fact that he hadn't won, I stormed off in triumph, as I had done all those other times when Zane's forcing me to discuss Tam had gone beyond what I felt that I could bear.

From a distance as I listened in I heard Tam playing along with the charade-lie that I had started after our extensive planning, announcing to the boys that she was famished and sleep-deprived, since I'd made her sleep outside and without any food. Tam's believable acting, along with my enjoyment at humiliating Zane for the situation he had thrown us into was well worth it, teeing matters up nicely.

Despite the fact that it _sort of_ had been Zane's handiwork that had resulted in me finally letting Tam in and trusting her, this was just the last laugh for all the unnecessary interfering that we had to endure over that time.

However, Tam and I would tell him the truth later...

Maybe.

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><p><strong>So! I have been absolutely, positively, extremely dying to know your thoughts on this chapter ever since I wrote it, which was a couple of months ago, and the time has finally come! Are we team 'Trust Tam', like Rikki has just been convinced into, or are you still not sold? Anyway, I'm pretty sure that this is the last Rikki POV of the first Far From Perfection aside from the all-in final chapter. <strong>

**Next chapter: ****Will confides in the wrong person regarding his insecurities and difficulty with Allie, with even more disastrous consequences, in the lead up to the cliffhanging chapter end.**

**P.S. If you review, I'll love YOU and rejoice as I read each new review, celebrating them ****with a three-day dance. ****Easy as that. **


	34. Removing The Block

**Can I just say a huge, massive thank you to all of my beyond incredible reviewers on the last chapter! It was the most reviews I've received since around chapter 25! It was exhilarating to read how much you enjoyed the last chapter and from how many people! That was a huge inspiration for me to update again so soon, so keep it up if you want more! I also loved reading your thoughts on Tam, and am thrilled that almost all of you have either changed you mind or had your impression of Tam confirmed. :)**

**Tomorrow, I actually start my course (SO nervous!). This means that even though I may take longer to write future chapters, it actually shouldn't affect updates that greatly as I've already written about 6 or 7 chaps ahead, finishing this story and starting the first few of the sequel. **

**Also, don't skip the A/N at the end for a bit of a reward announcement for my loyal reviewers in the lead up to the final chapter of Far From Perfection!**

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><p><strong>Chapter 34 – Removing The Block<strong>

_Will's POV_

It was a casual, normal Monday morning, with both girls rushing around the house in a hurry to get out of the door to reach their destination's of work or school since their beds had encouraged them to pursue a far too relaxed attitude towards waking up. Zane on the other hand floated around humming and shuffling along to whatever indistinguishable song was in his head as if he was in eye of the storm, the calmest part, and completely oblivious to the mad hysteria of what was happening around him on the outside.

As I poured the milk over my cereal for my breakfast, Zane's head suddenly jerked towards my direction, as if he was suddenly aware of my presence in the space I had been sharing with him for at least the last ten minutes.

"So what are you plans for the day Benji?" Zane questioned, posing the question to me with the use of one of the _many_ abbreviations of my surname that he had concocted over the last few years.

"I'm going to pick up some food and stuff a bit later on and drop it off for the girls. What about you? Have you remembered what work is yet?"

Zane's face scrunched up in a feigned display of amusement from my sarcasm regarding his lenient view towards employment. "Funny, funny boy... How are the girl's going anyway? Got cabin-fever from their solitary confinement yet?"

"The last time I spoke to Bella she said that she's forgotten what civilization and the outside world _is_, while Allie has been getting a little bit more restless and unsettled every now and then. I've tried dropping in every now and then to try and keep them as sane as I possibly can."

My mate nodded his head, settling into a more comfortable position than the one he had resumed a few minutes earlier, as he had traveled across the room, focused on his music.

"How is that all going by the way? It's good that you're seeing Allie a lot more than you ever have, I guess" Zane questioned and proceeded to attempt to answer his own question, hypothetically, before a tell-tale smirk flooded across his face.

I knew what to expect.

"And Bella? That boat-shed is _awfully_ small...small and intimate... and surely Allie wouldn't be awake the _entire_ time that you visit..."

I rolled my eyes, not even letting the concept that Zane was alluding to pass any further than it needed to.

"Grow up Zane. We are mature adults. She's Allie's mum and I'm Allie's dad. That's all it is. All that we do is talk. If you're after a 'saucy' or 'clandestine' love affair, go and watch '_The Bold and the Beautiful'_, or something like that then!"

"Hey, talking can be a part of things if that takes your fancy. All I'm saying is that old habits die hard!"

As hard as I tried, I couldn't resist allowing a smirk to snake my lips as the perfect reciprocation of taunting crossed my mind.

"It's a miracle that you and Rikki have been able to share a roof _neutrally_ then..."

The unimpressed scolding look I became on the receiving end of told me to drop that particular end of the subject, which I did, reverting back to preaching my innocence and pure intentions.

"Seriously though, I'm just focused on helping out with Allie, as difficult as that is proving to be at the moment. Trying to connect with her and understand a one-year-old is _hard_ work."

My friend's eyebrow furrowed as he once again, for the second time, in our conversation reverted back to a tone of seriousness, being engrossed in our present conversation. "What do you mean by that? She's a kid. All you have to do play with her for five minutes, give her a tickle, a few round of peek-a-boo and maybe a cuddle and then you're best friends forever, right? How hard can that be for _you_ to nail?"

Hearing Zane's blasé attitude toward my predicament added fuel to the fire with my already burgeoning fears and thoughts that had been slowly developing within me in recent times.

"You say that, but I swear that Allie's closer to you, mate, than she is to me!"

Zane's face scrunched up in an unapprovingly fashion of disbelief. "You're kidding right? I played with her for a couple of minutes, that's it. But you on the other hand, you're her dad."

"I'm a pretty terrible one at that. I don't know how to balance being a fun-father with being a responsible one. Whenever I've tried to tell her off or discipline her, she'll just end up giggling or laughing at me and not listening, like it's just a joke."

"Get Bella to do the hard yards" Zane shrugged, as if his idea was flawless, simple and the ideal solution. "She can be the mean parent and you get to be the cool one! Good cop, bad cop!"

I rolled my eyes at one of my best friend's solutions, which displayed the obvious fact that even _I_ knew that he was far from cut out to be a father. He'd be the sort of dad that fed a child a packet of red lollies and scratched his head in wonder as to why he wouldn't be able to get it to sleep.

"I've got another idea!" Zane piped up again, not allowing me the chance to lecture his proposition to my parenting approach.

"We should go and raid _Toys R Us_, get her everything and anything that a one-year-old's little heart could possibly desire! That way if you're like Father Christmas when you go and visit her, it'll take the pressure off you having to entertain her so that you can focus on the responsible parenting stuff, while she'll still think you're the best dad ever for spoiling her!"

While I agreed to Zane's proposition as it seemed like a good... or at least the _better_ solution for the time being, killing two birds with one stone, something in the background had gone unnoticed to both of us...

Neither Zane, nor myself had heard or noticed Rikki sneaking back inside, having forgotten something upon her departure from the house, returning to retrieve it and hearing the tail end of our conversation in the meantime... And little did we know she had reported back to her friend that would be the most interested in what Zane and I were discussing...

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><p>As we entered the huge sliding glass doors into the closest children's toy department store, Zane's eyes were filled with a mesmerizing wonder, transfixed by the bright colours and large advertising that pointed shop goers and targeted children to every direction of the store with well thought-out marketing strategies.<p>

"What do kids these days even like?! Back in my day, it was all _The Wiggles_, _Thomas the Tank Engine_ and _Johnson & Friends_! And then by primary school, the girls were branching into a bit of _The Saddle Club, _while it was all _Hot Wheels_ or _Transformers_ for me."

The conflicted twenty-one-year-old wandered around the store in bewilderment as his childhood was on the line and being shattered around him. "And what the hell is a '_Tumbliboo_?!' What sort of name is that?! Are they encouraging kids to be educated members of society, or illiterate morons, reliant on Centrelink and dole day because they play with this paraphernalia these days?!"

"Keep your voice down!" I hissed, looking around the same environment that he was, but doing so in a very different light to Zane. "Just help me out and stop meditating on your past. Help me with what Allie might like! You were pretty engrossed in watching TV with her the other day for a while, you should know."

"Well we're getting her a Dictionary to start with. Your kid isn't going to be a _Tumbli_-whatever member of society, relying on the dole!" Zane instructed gruffly, not taking the excursion very well as he cynically made his way further into the store, while he formed a habit of picking up a toy, looking at it for a mere moment before dropping it back to where he taken it from, all the while completely unimpressed.

I made my way and tried to subtly direct my company towards the pinker and more feminine-looking section of the store where I was hoping I would be more successful on the outing.

"Why don't you just get a couple of babies, a couple of Barbies and some stuffed toys? That's girlie isn't it? I've never had to shop for young girls before."

"That makes two of us" I replied, as I picked up a few of the suggestions that Zane had made, giving the boxes and price-tags attached to the aisle a glance over before I started creating a tower of toys within my arms.

Looking over to Zane, it appeared that his shattered childhood was long forgotten as pressed and tested all sorts of inviting '_Try Me_' buttons on toys that were aimed for members of the opposite gender that were many, many years younger than Zane was. That fact didn't really seem to cause a problem for the distracted adult who reacted to the toys the way that I imagined the target audience would.

Soon, I was expecting him to start latching onto my arms and pointing to toys with tear-filled eyes that pleaded for me to buy the toys for him at any moment.

While I was busy, working on achieving what we had come do and the reason why we are actually there in the first place, Zane was no help as he made his way through the various children's toys. It was only after that I realized that he seemed to have completely forgotten not only our mission, but also the fact that I am there in the shop with him too.

This left me completely on my own when it came to finding and purchasing as many toys that not only had the little _1+_ sign in the corner of age-appropriateness, but what also seemed appealing to a young girl from my very limited experience.

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><p>"Sorry!" Bella apologized in a fluster as she hurried around the boatshed, picking up pieces of grated carrot, bread crusts and cucumber strips at the same time as I entered, struggling to carry all the items I had purchased together with Zane earlier today. "I think Allie was trying to spread her salad sandwich across every square centimetre of the place instead of actually eating it!"<p>

The young culprit giggled in the corner as if she knew the full extent of the difficulty she had caused her mother.

I dumped the load of assorted coloured toys on the parts of the table that had been cleaned and cleared of any edible obstructions.

"What's that for?" Bella questioned after my action of setting the various boxes down caught her attention, despite the fact that we both knew the answer to the question she posed, knowing there was only one reason or possibility behind the presence of children's toys.

"It's just some stuff I picked up for Allie on the way over here" I responded, intentionally failing to give much of an explanation passed the basic detail that the two of us were already aware of as I picked up one item from the table, calling over the youngest girl in the room who hesitantly approached me upon recognizing her name.

I crouched down to her level, understanding from my basic knowledge of body language that towering over someone much shorter than you was never an approachable trait.

"Here you go sweetie. That's for you" I explained to the toddler as I pulled the tag of the soft toy that she had reached for first, handing it back to her as she examined it for a seconds and dropped it without much interest in it.

I tried not to take the deflating gesture personally, trying to reason within myself that perhaps the toy wasn't very interesting to her, or perhaps it was one that she already had. Instead, I quickly passed her another of the myriads of toys I had bought for her, removing any tags and passing her the baby doll.

Similarly to with the first stuffed animal, she looked at it momentarily before dropping the baby to join the inanimate animal on the floor before her blue orbs returned to me, unamused by the items that were used with the hope of buying my daughter's interest and attention in me.

Before I pulled down another of the toys to the one-year-old's level, I looked up and over to the girl's mother, with the hope that she would have some sort of explanation or solution.

"I'm sorry Will..." Bella apologized uneasily; looking down at us with a nervous grimace as she lightly bit the corner of her lip. "Rikki told me that she heard you and Zane talking earlier, that you said you didn't feel like she was interested in you..."

"She heard that?!" I asked with horror as I remembered some of Zane's more awkward taunts early in that same conversation and dreading how much Rikki had not only heard, but what Bella knew about.

Bella answered my question with a simple nod, failing to elaborate on what she knew, which I was more than curious to know.

"Yeah she did. Honestly, I think you're trying too hard. I know you're an overachiever with _every_ little thing in life, but just try to relax with her. I think that Allie would prefer for you to just sit there and play with her, even if it was with the most boring toy in the world, rather than be given a feast of new ones. That's how you bond with little kids. You take an interest in them and what they are interested in. I know Zane probably doesn't get the concept so it's not surprising that he suggested you spoil her rotten, but kids are _time_, not money."

I nodded at Bella's expert opinion, cursing myself mentally for my choice of confidant. What on earth was I thinking that Zane would even have half an idea about balancing child-rearing with child-bonding?! "Oh okay then... Sorry. I'm way off with this whole kid-thing."

"You're not doing a bad job though; you're being too hard on yourself... Way harder than Allie is being on you. And I appreciate that you are really trying to make an effort with her and that you _want_ to connect with her."

"Well it's not doing much good. I feel like I've gotten nowhere with her" I explained more honestly than what I had intended to, with my disappointment from the earlier rejection from Allie at my attempts of spoiling her with toys finally coming out unintentionally.

She nodded at me, looking down to Allie who had since lost interest me, moving away to play with a pile of papers nearby that I wasn't sure whether she was supposed to touch.

"I think you need to relax and not over-think things around her. Accept the fact that she's not going to say '_thanks for playing with me dad, I had great fun with you'_ which is the sort reciprocation and acknowledgment that we expect as adults. And I heard you're struggling with feeling responsible enough too, right?"

I gave Bella the nodded gesture that she needed as a sign to continue as her mouth proceeded on speedily as I was more than used to her doing from years of past experiences with it.

"Just because you have to be a responsible parent and keep her safe, it doesn't mean you can't just have fun, play and muck around with her too all at the same time. You're not stupid or careless, Will. If there's something which could be hazardous to Allie, you'll fix it. If she's in a situation that could be dangerous, you'll stop it. I have faith in you, but you just need faith in you _too.._."

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><p>I had ended up staying far with the girl's for far more of the day than I had ever intended to. While I had initially thought that I would just drop in to see Bella and Allie and stay to perhaps watch her for a few minutes after I had given her the toys I had bought her, I didn't expect to stay with them for dinner and then well into the night.<p>

I had spent the afternoon trying to play with Allie and give bonding with her another shot, while Bella overlooked our socialization as she got a bit of work and a few errands that had been building up on her to-do list done, all the while being able to oversee and take over if there was any major problems with the way I was playing with Allie.

After dinner, where Allie had been far more interested in eating from either Bella or my own servings rather than my own, Bella had let me give her a bath and watch my very own little mermaid splash around in her own little perfect-sized and contained ocean happily. It was just awesome, not only seeing the magic of a mermaid that I hadn't seen in years, but also to watch the unexplainable joy and peace of the little girl as she enjoyed her true form - just as Bella, Cleo and Rikki would.

For the first time in a long time, I'd began to feel a true love again. Not the sort where feelings overwhelmed you to touch, kiss, hug, hold and just cherish a person as greatly as you could with the sort of feelings that ached during every moment that you were apart. It was completely different love from the only romantic feelings of a love interest.

It was quite possibly better.

It was the sort of love that you were unable to stop smiling. The sort of infatuated love where I wanted to tell anyone and everyone about Allie. I wanted to gush to anyone about the things she'd said and done over the last few hours which I had classed as more than adorable. I didn't want her to go to bed, I didn't want to have to leave her that evening.

But life just isn't fair like that.

As of today, I'd be perfectly happy spending every day playing with her and keeping her safe... Something which I had gained confidence in my ability to balance over the last few hours with the approval of Bella in my capability of being able to do so.

A little later in the night and after we'd read Allie a bedtime story to settle her, Bella slowly tiptoed out of our daughter's makeshift bedroom as she quietly crept back out towards me after spending the last few minutes ensuring Allie fell to sleep. It was something which she would have done night-in, night-out for the last year of her life.

"Sorry that she couldn't stay up longer while you're here. Normally she would, but she missed her nap today so she'd be getting pretty close to unbearable if I'd tried to keep her up."

"That's okay. I should head off anyway."

I gathered up my phone that was on the table near my keys and wallet, moving closer to Bella for some sort of gesture of goodbye. While we had each initiated different actions at different times, we still hadn't really established whether we were wave-goodbye friends, handshake-friends, or hug-and-cheek-kiss friends.

While I recalled that the last time we had been in this situation I had bitten the bullet and gone for the hug option, it was nice to have the same action reciprocated in reassurance of the wordless boundaries and limits that the same obviously applied to the other person.

After pulling away from the hug, I began to leave, before Bella quickly caught my attention with my name to stop me by the door.

"I was going through my laptop and found some of Allie's baby photos and some stuff from when she was a little bit younger yesterday and I thought about you. Would you be interested in me sending some of that through to you or something?"

I smiled at the suggestion, to affirm my answer to the suggestive question. "Yeah... That would be really great. I'd love to see those, thanks."

"Um, a fair few of the photos have Daniel in them... Would you prefer for me to weed through them and just send you the ones of her alone or do you not really care?" Bella added to her initial question, looking down to her feet and in the direction of the ground as she spoke far more hesitantly.

While every ounce of dominant alpha-male testosterone shouted a very different answer within me, that same answer was not the one that my brain and mouth decided on to make it easier for Bella.

"I don't really care if he's in them. I'll just try to mentally blot him out if he really starts to annoy me!"

She nodded with a marginal smile and a slither more confidence as her gaze returned to me instead of the floor. There was a moment of silence before I grabbed the door handle with another goodbye and wave of my hand as I opened up the door to the pier of my former home.

"Have a good night" Bella replied as I finally made my way out and left.

The night was drawing to a close, but I _had_ definitely 'had a good night' so far.

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><p>My eyes were forced open, prematurely from the noise that seemed ear-piercing as it awoke me from my slumber.<p>

My window furnishings that I had obviously forgotten to close the night before revealed the fact that the sun was still not up, with the small numbers on the top of my illuminated screen revealing that it is in fact, only ten minutes before 5 A.M.

While the first thought that crossed my mind was murdering whoever-the-hell had the nerve to call me at an hour I had become very unaccustomed to since my diving days, it was only as I read the name of the caller that I was moved to answer the call with an expanded vision as my eyes widened that little bit more.

I had no time to consider even constructing a possible greeting before my ears were exposed to a bloodcurdling shriek in a wail of grief.

"A-A-Allieeee. S-sh-she's goooone!"

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><p><strong>So! Thoughts, theories, hopes, dreams! Let me know anything related to the chapter! Can't wait to read 'em all! :D <strong>

**Also, as promised, I have decided to introduce a review incentive reward! Over the final two chapters of FFP all 6 main characters (Cleo, Rikki, Bella, Lewis, Zane & Will) will have one final POV each in either chapter 36 or 37, all being roughly the same length. As a thank you all my lovely and loyal reviewers, if you review every chapter from this chapter to the final of FFP is reviewed (3 reviews I do believe), you will be sent the entire POV of a character of your choice featured in either chapter 36 or 37. Here's what happens. I will take note of every reviewer from this chapter and if you consistently review the next three. Then before I post the finals, I will inbox you and anyone else who is eligible from the submitted reviews. From there, I will ask you who your favourite character is or who's POV you would like to read and the send you the subsequent chunk of the chapter. Any questions, just ask and I'll try to clear it up! :) Happy reviewing!**

**Next chapter:** **In the aftermath of the phone call, is history repeating itself? Who else's life is on the line, and will they survive the end of the chapter?**


	35. Natural Justice: Part 1

**Hey my lovely readers, just to start with I am going to put a great, big whopping apology. Before Sunday, I had absolutely no intentions to split this chapter, but as I uploaded the file and noted the final word count I realized that this would be a better chapter split. So, sorry for one more chapter before we reach the final... It may be a good thing or a bad thing having one extra chapter, but hey I know I definitely prefer editing chapters that are over 7000 words in two parts!**

**Sorry it's been almost a month since my last update too but it's been weird having to kick start life as a full-time student again! But, saying that I am loving studying again. I was worried how I would go after like a 3 month hibernation from any sort of classes and homework, but it's chill. Made heaps of friends already and found a non-identical clone of my personality which had been pretty awesome! Also, got my favourite coffee shop spot and lunch destinations sorted so all is well with the world of course and life is good!**

***WARNING* This chapter is the closest that this story will ever come to an 'M' rating, while a 'T' is still very much applicable. Anyway, the very END of this chapter and the one that follows it deal with MATURE SELF-HARM THEMES and may prove a TRIGGER. So, if it is just not something you like to read or something that you are best off not to read, maybe just wait it out for the storm to pass. I am even happy to send out a far milder summary of this chapter and the next if you don't feel comfortable reading it but don't want to miss out, just leave a review and say that you didn't read but would like an overview :)**

**P.S. Thanks a million for 500+ reviews! Another milestone, woo!**

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><p><strong>Chapter 35 – Natural Justice: Part 1<strong>

_Bella's POV_

By the time that Will -who had brought along two of his three housemates; Rikki and Zane- arrived, the early morning sun and sunrise was only just beginning to surface for the day, bringing with it a small amount of light to illuminate the darkness that I had woken up to without my daughter.

Allie had completely vanished at some point between when I slipped into bed beside the sleeping toddler and when I woke up early, almost out of instinct, without her.

In the time between noticing her disappearance and before the others had arrived I had performed a quick, panicked search around the small make-shift house, called her father and turned the boat shed upside down in my unsuccessful attempts to find her. Every cushion was lifted, every nook and cranny was looked into, every possible and impossible place that a one-year-old could have gotten herself within those four walls was searched desperately.

"Hey, any sign of her?" Will questioned quickly, immediately joining me on my search around the small boat shed as I scoured the residence again, hoping to have missed some big clue or sign the first few times I looked, hoping that the clue would be easy and that it would immediately eradicate my panic to locate my little girl and have her where she belonged, safely back in my and Rikki eventually joined the hopeless search around the place too, slinking behind unsure what to do or say, but deep within me I knew that Allie was not here. I wanted her to be, but that hope wasn't going to be enough to miraculously teleport her there safely...

I shook my head in response to Will's question as I momentarily let my emotions out on a helpless loaf of bread that was unknowingly positioned in my warpath-way.

"Hey, calm down. I know you're worried sick, but just take a deep breath. Stressing out is only going to make it worse" Will calmly informed me, taking a hold of the top of my shoulders and momentarily stopping both of us from searching for our daughter. "Now, can you remember roughly what time and where you saw Allie last?"

I listened to Will's advice, inhaling a deep breath of air that was increasingly hard to take in as my chest rapidly tightened against my will.

"Uh, it was when I went to bed. That would've been about 11. I didn't wake up at all in the night and I can't remember her stirring or anything during the night."

He nodded and looked over to the wooden door that he, Zane and Rikki had entered from just minutes earlier.

"Okay... I'm not saying this is it, but can you remember locking the door before you went to bed last night? Do you think that Allie would be able to reach the door-handle?"

I stood on the spot momentarily, registering the question and considering what the answer to it was, as my mind was wiped clean by a mental blank at the worst possible time.

I couldn't remember if I'd already been outside this morning on my search for Allie.

I couldn't remember if I'd unbolted or easily opened the door as though it was unlocked or if I had even checked out there.

I couldn't remember whether I had locked the door in my normal routine before going to bed.

I couldn't even remember what I had to eat yesterday.

"Oh god, I don't know!" I cried, unintentionally pushing passed both Will and Rikki as I hurried outside to the small dock that I seen, walked on and sat on many, many times in the past. But as the fresh air filled my deprived lungs, it was as if I was seeing the pier from a different light... In my despair I was seeing all the dangers associated with its positioning with such a short distance from the door to the water, seeing the lack of railing and seeing the potential hazard it was for a carefree toddler.

My breath caught in the back of my throat as my stomach dropped within me from the mere thought of my daughter plunging into the water. Yes, she was a mermaid and yes, she enjoyed the water, but she is _one_. The deepest water she had ever swum in was highly supervised in the spa and the realization in my mind made me understand that her swimming skills would never have advanced to such a level of not knowing basic water safety made me feel weak.

"I've got to dive in there; I've got to check for her! Oh god, what if she got out during the night and fell off the edge and into the water?!" I said in the middle of my raspy panic attack to the other three who had quickly followed me silently out to the pier.

I proceeded to look down at the murky, unclear water, knowing exactly what I had to do, but being completely incapable of moving as I froze to the spot.

"No, no. You stay here... just in case" Will quickly piped up, torpedo-diving into the water immediately and before I had the chance to say otherwise.

I held my breath as I waited and waited and waited, watching the water intently for what felt like hours as the bubbles and surface of the water settled from Will's impromptu entrance into them. My reflexes were so slow that it took a few seconds to register someone's arms were around me, holding me supportively and moving my head away from the view of the water surrounding the pier.

I'd assumed it was Rikki, my friend, holding me but it was only as I looked over towards the house that I realized through the process of elimination that I was wrong. Rikki cowered as far away from the water and as close to the walls of the house as possible on the phone as I heard her waiting momentarily between speaking '_yes_' and '_emergency_' into the device.

"You're so cold... And so white. I've never seen anyone look this pale before. Do you want me to get you a jacket or something?" Zane questioned in a low tone as he held me within his warmer, comforting arms for the first time. I shook my head within his arms in response to his question.

"No. I don't care" I mumbled quickly as I listened out for the tell-tale splashes of Will surfacing from the marine search. A search that -if I am right in fearing the worst-, I never really wanted to know the answer and result to...

While Will's diving experience was helpful in the fact that he could quickly search a large area underwater, efficiently, without requiring breathes of oxygen, I cursed the fact that he was such an experienced diver for the fact that the painful minutes dragged on slowly.

Standing there in such a panicked state over the loss of my daughter I envisioned trips to the morgue and funeral homes as my eyes welled up helplessly from the mere thought of losing the most important and precious person in my life. The little girl who _I_ am responsible for, who I feared that I had failed at looking after...

I felt as though I was going to vomit, I felt as though I was going to collapse, I felt as though I was going to breakdown, I felt as though I was not coping, until I heard the nearby splash of water and gasp of inhaling fresh air.

I quickly looked down to the water as Will swam over to the pier, climbing back up to our level, looking more rattled and anxious than what he had before he dived in.

"It is pretty murky down there, but there's no sign of her, thankfully."

While I could breathe a sigh of relief that my daughter hadn't helplessly fallen to the bottom of the water which was a scenario that I couldn't even allow into my mind for more than a moment at a time to unsettle me, it still didn't answer the question I was desperate to know and to do everything and anything in my power to fix in order to get my little girl back safely.

"The only other thing I can think of that could answer where Allie might be is Daniel... Would he have snuck in and taken her? Have you given him any information or heard any reason for him to know where you are?" Rikki suggested quietly, sending my thoughts into overdrive and prompting the sensation of my stomach plunging from deep within me all over again.

"Hell... Dan never even crossed my mind. Of course. This is his way of getting back at me for leaving, for rejecting the proposal..." I replied, answering Rikki's question and thinking aloud while managing to unintentionally reveal way too much information all in one hit as I rushed off the pier and away from the boat house to the road and civilization of the city that I had escaped from in the suburban oasis.

"Bella! Stop! The proposal? What proposal?! Just stop for a second would you?!" Rikki yelled as she ran after me, latching onto my arm with a great enough force to stop me walking all the way to Daniel's apartment without a second thought.

I sighed after being forced into stopping and stood on the spot, considering how I could tackle Rikki's question as easily and quickly as possible when I was aching to get away and get to my ex-boyfriend's apartment with the high hope of redeeming Allie.

"That isn't important now, Rikki. I just want my little girl back" I replied lacking any real information and detail, with a sigh of frustration. My short answer back to one of my best friend's was what I hoped would be seen as an indicator of my mood and tolerance that was wearing extremely thin after the emotionally draining morning.

As Rikki opened her mouth, I could immediately tell that nags and words of retaliation would spill out of it, had it not been for Will speaking first.

"Okay, let's just focus on what we're going to do now. Zane, how about you stay here just in case, seeing as she went missing from here so there's still a chance somehow that she hasn't gone far. Rikki, do you know enough details about Allie and her disappearance to go to the police station and report Allie as missing? You probably know more than I do about her, so then I'll take Bella to Dan's. Any problems with that?"

There were two head-shakes and an audible '_no_' from myself and the other two as Will posed the question to the three of us, while I was far more desperate to just get moving and put the plans into action. Every second spent loitering around, waiting and not doing anything, my heart ached for the well-being and safety of my daughter who was always in the back of my mind...

* * *

><p>As Will's car pulled up to the very familiar set of apartments, the car had barely slowed to stationary before I jumped out of the passenger's seat door, racing inside to the ground floor elevator with Will hurrying behind me before it sealed shut, taking us up to fourth level far too slowly.<p>

Fortunately, the nauseatingly slow elevator ride was counteracted somewhat as I heard the message alert tone from my phone buried deep within my pocket, completely forgotten about.

**Rikki Chadwick  
><strong>_Reported A. police trying to get in contact with Dan ATM. Let me know if you have any success. We'll find her Bells xo_

"Any news?" Will asked from beside me, looking over to me with glance at my mobile device's screen as the elevator pinged and the doors slowly, but finally opened to our destination.

"Just Rikki, nothing new" I stated quickly, rushing down passed the doors that all looked the same until I reached the one of particular interest. I still had my house key since leaving Daniel, but as I held the small silver object up to the lock, I knew there was a chance that Daniel may have arranged to have the locks changed, that I wouldn't be able to access the rooms that I ached to enter, knowing that pounding on the door to open up may be completely unfruitful.

Now it had all come down to the moment of truth.

My breath lodged itself in the back of my throat, along with the lump of nervousness that I could not swallow. I slid the key in, turning it, all the while not changing the state of the locked door at all. I jiggled the key, desperately, pounding on it with my palm until a sensation of relief flooded across me.

The door opened.

I ran inside, more nervous, more excited and with more blood pumping in that moment when I opened the further door to view the rest of the living, dining and kitchen open-spaced area.

That was when I saw my little pink bundle in the living area, wearing the same owl-patterned pyjamas that I had dressed her and put her to bed in, after her father had bathed her for the first time ever the night before.

Allie was just sitting there obliviously, cross-legged, in her own little baby paradise as she munched on her favourite biscuits; one in each hand, while somehow cuddling her favourite teddy that I hadn't realized had been taken with her which was tucked in her arm as she watched the new episodes of shows she would watch daily on the ABC kid's channel.

My stomach dropped, in a very different thrill of excitement compared to the weighed down feeling of nervousness I had experienced earlier. I felt like I had been winded, with a complete inability to breathe, move and do anything for a few moments as I froze at the door before the feel-good adrenaline rush kicked in. Tears were pouring down my face as I hurried across the room, lifting Allie up and into my arms.

"Oh, baby girl..." I mumbled into my daughter as I held her tighter, treasuring her more and making the most of the opportunity to kiss and snuggle her far more than I had in a long time.

Eventually, I pulled myself away from the tight embrace I held Allie in as she started to wriggle and become restless within my arms, oblivious to the drama and my emotional turmoil of the day. I quickly looked over Allie, examining her for any sign or reason to believe that she had been mistreated or injured. Thankfully my examination resulted in the conclusion that she appeared the exact same as she had when I last saw her.

"Is she okay? And are _you_ okay?" Will quietly questioned as I finished my brief examination.

I nodded, clutching Allie closely to me and smothering her in another load of hugs and kisses until she got restless.

"Do you mind taking her? There's someone else I need to see while I'm here... I'm going to kill him."

Will opened his arms as I reluctantly passed him our daughter, while I knew I needed to address my ex-boyfriend, but all that I wanted to do is be with Allie.

"Just stay here, maybe call the others and tell them we've got her" I informed Will as I backed away from him and Allie to search the remainder of the house until I found what I was looking for, raising my voice as I yelled out my intentions for my ex to hear, wherever he was in the house.

"It's all over, you hear me? Daniel?! Where the hell are you?! Dan?! Get out here and sort this out!"

I raided the first few rooms where the doors broke away from the hallway of the house leading to the individual rooms scanning the former spare room, the study, Allie's old room and the bathroom before I reached my former bedroom.

Just when I thought that today had reached its peak, that the worst was over and that it would all be downhill from here, I was delivered another shocking blow as I looked into the bedroom, immediately startled by the sight of what was happening in the room.

Daniel was standing on the corner post of the wooden four poster canopy bed.

He looked ready to drop and ready for the rope to tighten fatally from his hanging weight.

Not for the first time today, my stomach sickeningly plummeted within me, taking my breath away and winding me in one hit. I felt frozen to the spot, scared to move a muscle as I stood there, taking in the sight before me along with the enormous implications of what I do or do not do over the next few minutes.

Dan's life is in my hands... It is completely up to me to save him. The person who honestly, a part of justice within me felt as though I had no reason to save.

Instead of walking off and ignoring the dire cry for help, I wordlessly examined the setup. The most noticeable object was the noose around my ex-boyfriend's neck which the taut rope looped around one of the four posts that almost reached the roof of the solid-wood bed.

I came to an instant and frightening understanding of the fact that if Daniel fell –on accident or purpose- and if his feet left the security of the ledge on the end of the bed that the _bed_ would not be moving anywhere. I knew as well as Daniel did what the result would be and exactly what would happen. It is up to me to make sure that that did not happen.

"Wh-what are you doing Dan? Please don't do this. I am begging you, _please_, just get down from there" I choked as I scanned the room further, for anything else that would either help or hinder my self-appointed counselling task. The search I conducted as I stayed standing on the spot concluded with the fact that nothing is sitting around which would cut off the rope from where it hung _faster_ than the rope would cut off Daniel's wind tube within his throat if he fell or jumped...

* * *

><p><strong>So. Allie's safe, Dan is not so much. Thought's, feelings, anything? I'm just prepping myself and zipping myself up in my flame-proof suit to prepare for the reviews and opinions... Be nice?<strong>

**On a side note, I felt really sad editing this in light of the news of Charlotte Dawson (RIP xo) over the weekend. So sad. It's horrible that the online bullies won again and claimed another victim :( No one deserves any bullying in anyway shape or form...**

**Don't forget, my lovely loyal ones, to send in a review to keep your spot in my list of being able to receive your choice of character's POV (AKA one third of a chapter!) well in advance to it being posted and shared with the rest of the FanFiction universe! Plus, the more reviews, the less time you have to wait for an update..**

**Next chapter: Dan's fate is sealed and revealed. **


	36. Natural Justice: Part 2

**And part two is here! Thanks to the few amazing people in the world who reviewed the last chapter. You'll be rewarded very shortly!**

**Just as a reminder, my review reward means once this chapter and the following is reviewed, a character's POV will be all yours in advance to the final! In case you were wondering, the users that are currently applicable to receive the extra are:  
><strong>ByEmiwithlove; Marril96; H20 forever; H2Ozikkiaddict; ObsessedwReading; zikki 3; blitzholly.

**If you're not there, but you want to be there, message me and I will let you know what chapters need to be reviewed. I'm more than happy to help you out if you want extras. Also, let me know if you think you're name should be there but it isn't and I can double check. **

***WARNING* This chapter is the closest that this story will ever come to an 'M' rating, while a 'T' is still very much applicable. This chapter deals with MATURE SELF-HARM THEMES and may prove a TRIGGER. So, if it is just not something you like to read or something that you are best off not to read, maybe just wait it out for the storm to pass. I am even happy to send out a far milder summary of this chapter and the next if you don't feel comfortable reading it but don't want to miss out, just leave a review and say that you didn't read but would like an overview :)**

**Enjoy the climax of this storyline boys and girls! **

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 36 – Natural Justice: Part 2<strong>

_Bella's POV_

_... PREVIOUSLY..._

_I wordlessly examined the setup. The most noticeable object is the noose around my ex-boyfriend's neck, with the taut rope looped around one of the four posts of the solid-wood bed that almost reached the roof._

_I came to an instant and frightening understanding of the fact that if Daniel fell –on accident or purpose- and if his feet left the security of the ledge on the end of the bed that the bed would not be moving anywhere. I knew as well as Daniel did what the result would be and exactly what would happen. It is up to me to make sure that that did not happen._

_"Wh-what are you doing Dan? Please don't do this. I am begging you, please, just get down from there" I choked as I scanned the room further, for anything else that would either help or hinder my self-appointed counselling task. The search I conducted as I stayed standing on the spot concluded with the fact that nothing is sitting around which would cut off the rope from where it hung faster than the rope would cut off Daniel's wind pipe within his throat._

* * *

><p>During that search was when my gaze met with a small object that I had not laid my eyes on in a few weeks. I questioned whether it had been moved or even touched since the last time that my fingers had touched it from where I left it on the top of the chest of drawers in the corner of the room. It had been the last object I put back in its place on the night that I left Daniel.<p>

My engagement ring that I had worn on the symbolic appropriate finger for only a matter of hours glistened in the corner and I didn't know that my stomach could feel any weaker than it already had since entering the bedroom.

The single piece of expensive jewellery triggered the unavoidable truth that I had been trying to push away since I entered the room... This is my fault.

"Why should I, Bella?! Give me one good reason to get down. I have nothing left - doing this is a better alternative!" Daniel spat as he stood on the furniture, his head nearly reaching the roof from his position of standing on the raised post which was really not intended for this particular use, so high above the ground.

I considered his question, only realizing the low in Daniel's life and his lack of purpose that is undoubtedly triggering this self-harming behaviour of desperation when no immediate answers came to my mind to remind him of.

I am obviously his last, albeit _ex-_, girlfriend, his only child had passed away in his arms, his father is a big fat question mark after hot-footing it a long time before he was born, his mother passed away from Pneumonia a few weeks after his wedding, he has no siblings, no cousins that he was close to, I had never thought that his 'friends' were loyal or good association (which I had tried to explain to him many times while we were together), his ex-wife hasn't spoken to him since he caught her in bed with his former friend and now I had left him with Allie, snatching away the arrangement that he had grown to love as a family.

"Because, Dan, if you do this, it isn't going to make things any better. It'll just eradicate the chance of your life getting any better. If you think you're life is at its worst, if that's why you feel like you have to give up, then just _please_ try to change your thinking and see it as though your life can only get better from here then."

He looked at me, straight into my eyes which I discovered is even scarier and more confronting than when he was loudly objecting to what I had to say while waving his arms and eyes and around to view everywhere.

"I am a _monster_, Bella. And I know that I don't deserve you because I've hurt you so badly, but now that you and Allie are gone I have no one and nothing left to live for. I'd rather die alone, now, than have to put up with the pain of years alone. If you _care_ about me, you would respect my wishes!"

I sighed at his latest comments, taking a daring step closer to Daniel while I hoped that it wouldn't spook him enough to take the plunge and jump, which was something that I am wracking my brain to do everything and anything to avoid happening.

"But I forgive you Dan. I might not be able to trust you again, but I forgive you what you did. I let go and I've moved on from that. Don't you dare do this thinking that it's some sort of cruel justice or karma for the hitting and abuse. I know that the Daniel Shapiro I first met would never have dreamed about hurting anyone, especially not a woman. I know you've gotten off track, but you've been through hell. You were a great person once before, I knew the guy you were and I have every faith in you that _you_ can find him again too if you don't give up."

"Yeah, Bella, that's a really great comparison... Look at what my life has become from what I used to be. Look at how I've managed to single-handedly screw my life up," he trailed off somberly, and from my position on the ground beneath him I could clearly identify the beginning of tearing up and watering of his eyes.

I took a step closer with a weakened stomach as for a moment it appeared that he had been looking down, looking ready to move and to set the suicide into action.

"Please Daniel, come on. Let's just talk, okay?" I tried to reason calmly, with no clue how or why I could maintain such a cool demeanor when I felt like an uneasy bundle of nerves within.

I moved over to the bed and sat down, patting his side of the bed, gesturing for him to sit next to me. I fluffed the pillow and lay against it, reclining back to rest against the bed head as I tried to normalize my actions the best I could to as if I weren't in the middle of witnessing my ex-boyfriend's dilemma of life or death.

"Come on. Just get down from there and sit next to me and we can talk. _We_ can work out how to fix this for you; we can get the old Dan back."

Clutching the quilt that was beneath me subtly for a release of my nerves, my eyes bore into Daniel and his actions, trying to hide my quivers as he once again looked down and appeared to ponder the option of pin dropping to the ground as he tried to tighten the rope around his neck.

In the aftermath of my suggestion, I witnessed what appeared to be pushing Daniel further towards the edge and closer to what I had been trying my best to avoid, I had to be quick to take action in persuading him to do as I was saying, to get him down from the suicidal post and at least talk to me until I had any better ideas.

"You said you feel guilty for what you did to me, right, and you feel guilty for how you hurt me? Here's a chance to make it up to me. Just sit down and let's chat... I'll help you work everything out."

I swear that I could hear him mutter something like: "_I don't deserve this_" under his breath, but my own breathe that I had been holding could finally be released as he loosened the knot from his neck, pulling his head from the noose as he stepped down from the wooden ledge, settling down on the mattress beside me.

"I'll hear you out... But you're not changing my mind, okay? I'll wait until you've gone, till you've taken Allie, but I have to do this Bells. I am just so damn sorry you've just been caught up in my mess."

I decided against pushing the matter any further just yet, attempting to side-step my way to what I so desperately aimed for and what Daniel's life depended on me achieving.

Instead, I took his larger fingertips into my much smaller hand and gave them a comforting squeeze of reassurance.

"Dan. Why did you take Allie?"

"I am so sorry. I didn't mean to scare you or freak you out by waking up to find she's not there, I just knew that was the only way I'd be able to say goodbye" Dan explained, looking me deep into the eyes, as his mouth gaped slightly as if even _he_ was unable to believe what he had done hours earlier.

He almost looked traumatized as he struggled to continue with what he had began to explain.

"I- I just, I'm an idiot. Drew tipped me off a few days ago... Told me he knew where you were staying and that he saw you. I don't know why I took her, I really don't, I just needed to be with someone I love and someone who loves me before I did _this,_" he said as he gestured to the free hanging noose a metre away from us both.

"I love her like a daughter, I didn't hurt her at all – I swear, I just needed to say goodbye to someone."

I believe him.

However, I had to ignore how I had felt earlier this morning - particularly the flame of fury deep within me, along with the anger and the grief, when I considered this situation from the perspective of being a mother presented with the man who had stolen her child this morning.

Before I had the chance to lie through my teeth about the fact that I forgave him for his earlier actions, since Allie had been found safe and sound, his face scrunched up again in a manner way too familiar to me... the way it would scrunch up before an outburst where I would be forced to catch the punches he threw.

I flinched from my vulnerable position just centimetres opposite him on the bed, especially in such an emotionally unstable situation before he grabbed the back of his neck and shoulders with his arms enveloping over his face. The visible veins that ran along his arms and biceps indicated the pressure and force he was using to let the bursts of anger onto himself.

"What the hell have I done?!" he screamed into his arms that muffled the noise, while I sat there watching him shake from the physical force and verbal screech, with his own body taking the impact of both blows.

I gently lay a hand to his shoulder, rubbing it back and forth along his back comfortingly as I would do for Allie when she was unsettled. At this point, I didn't know what else to do or say. He is safe from the previous suicide risk, so should I call out to Will and wait it out with both the boys until a police or ambulance arrived? Did I keep talking, keep trying to help him? Where do I go from here?

Before I had time to work out my next move, Dan's body slowly began to relax from its clenched state, separating his arms from his head to reveal his face. His eyes had since began to fill with water in a welling up and reddened state, on the verge of tears.

"After Nick died, I lost Jaz too. You and Allie were what got me through losing both my son and wife in a matter of months. With you girls, I was a part of a family again. Now that I've ruined that and lost you two, I've got nothing. I've got no one. I can't live my life just remembering everyone that I've lost. I'm not strong enough to do that!"

"Of course you are, Dan. Your life is going to get better... You moved on with your life once before, enough to be such a support to Allie and I when we needed you, so you're going to be even more capable and able to do it again on your own" I reassured him, stroking his back comfortingly as the best I could do to support him and control my own emotions for the moment.

Daniel looked up at me weakly with blood-shot watery eyes, resembling the strength of a child more than that of my former boyfriend. With four short, simple words strung together Dan broke down completely and I found it enormously hard to keep myself intact.

"I'm going to jail..." he cried hopelessly, breaking down into a quaking mess. And I knew there was no comfort I could give to that statement that wasn't a complete and total lie. He deserved it and there was no getting out of it.

The man in front of me was a shell of his former self, a shell of the Daniel that I had fallen in love with a year ago, the man that I had completely failed to realize had been on a slow decline over the last twelve months to reach this low point.

He sobbed in a wreck of choked up tears with his body shaking as it sprawled out across the bed, resembling a plastered and out of control individual, while the rope of his intentions and a reflection of his despair dangled nearby.

"I'm so sorry, Bella, I'm so sorry..."

This was the phrase that I heard being repeated over and over again in the the twenty-five-year old's cries until the police and paramedics, that I didn't realize Will had made the initiative to ring, arrived, taking his hands from mine and slamming them into restraining hand cuffs in front of him.

"Daniel Shapiro. You're under arrested for willfully and intentionally breaking the apprehended violence order against Isabella Hartley and Adelaide Benjamin, and for the kidnapping of Adelaide Benjamin. You have the right to remain silent but anything you do say may be held against you in the court of law."

While all the focus is on my most recent ex-boyfriend in the moment of his arrest, it is my other ex-boyfriend who caught my attention from the surprise expression on his face after listening to the police, standing a few steps behind them and in the doorway of the bedroom after letting them into the apartment.

* * *

><p>Several long, blurred and question-filled hours passed after the police arrived at the apartment to take Daniel. Over those hours Dan had been quickly taken away while the premises of my former apartment had been scoured and searched for evidence of any sort that would either make or break the case against Dan, and Rikki had arrived before she, Will and I had all been questioned regarding the happenings of the day.<p>

By this point I am completely exhausted as I sat in the quieter spare room that I had escaped to, to flee the hectic environment as the police had now just started to pack up.

Half an hour ago, I had used the excuse of moving to the far calmer and more serene environment of the spare bedroom to settle my daughter to sleep, when really it had been far more for me than her.

I needed to escape the blur of reality as I struggled to wrap my head around the events of today, from the distress of waking up with Allie nowhere to be found, to this point as I held her tighter than I had ever remembered taking the chance to treasure her before in my arms, doing nothing but watching her sleep peacefully, innocently and safely in my grateful arms.

A knock on the door that I had closed upon entering the room tore my eyes away from my daughter as I looked up to see who was at the door – desperately hoping that it's not another police officer chasing me up for my story of today's events.

"Hey" Will whispered upon noticing our sleeping baby, creeping into the room and sitting down next to me to brush a hand over Allie's sleeping locks. "What a day... How are you holding up?"

"Really well... I'm feeling completely motivated now. Might go home, work out for a couple hours, cook a five course meal and maybe write a novel..." I listed off sarcastically, finding the blatant lie easier than straight-up expressing how I had really been feeling.

"Bella..."

I sighed at the warning tone of Will's voice, not needing anymore than that one word to speak honestly; feelin too tired to do anything other than that.

"I'm tired, Will. I think I could eat my body weight in carbs and then hibernate for a hundred-year rest. Like that answer any better?"

With a roll of his eyes, Will changed the topic.

"I don't know what you feel like you need the most right now. I don't know if you need company, or just to be alone with Allie or not, but you two can come back and stay with us and take my room for the next couple of days if you want. No pressure. You know what's best for you guys, but I really don't mind."

I consider the options and while I love company from my extroverted nature, I am also normally always more favourable to being alone when faced with a crisis or with the aftermath of one. Generally I needed to be able to sort myself out, away from people and the public eye and return to life as though nothing happened.

Today's different though.

I hadn't had a chance to even think about what was to happen after we all left the apartment and where I would go from there, on a long and short term basis. After Will planted the seed in my mind and thought of having company, I couldn't shake it and felt as though I would rather be anywhere than back in the small, lonely boat shed that had scarred me today with the reminders of the panic I'd faced by waking up without Allie.

Company is exactly what I needed. The security of other people nearby is just the safety blanket, distraction and security needed tonight.

"That would be really, really great. After the day I've had, I really want to be anywhere other than the boat shed. No offence."

Will nodded with a warm smile. "I understand. If I were you, the last thing I would want is to be alone. I can give you a hand with Allie if you just want to crash tonight."

"Yeah, thanks. Being away from that place and with other people is just what I need."

"Anytime. Also, I've been thinking about it and trying to look at the bright side of all this. Although, obviously, it's a shame that Daniel's headed straight for the psych ward and rehab, at least it solves the problem of if he had tried to blab about you girl's secret. No one will believe a word he says about anything to do with mermaids."

I sigh. Yeah right. The bright side...

Yes, it is relieving that it would be one less person I would have to worry about carrying my secret since he would be considered mentally unstable to any authorities, especially when the only evidence he had of mermaids left the night I did. But instead, there's just this big fat question mark in the back of my mind, playing on my conscience and on my morals, posing the question of whether I could _really_ be so joyous of my life's security when I knew this is just the beginning of a long and painstakingly hard road ahead for Daniel?

"Of course... I'm glad I don't have to worry about him with the secret-" I pause, mentally deciding whether or not to continue the explanation, or whether to just allow my statement to fade away.

"-But? It sounded like there is supposed to be a 'but' coming after that."

"But, I just can't help but think about Dan. I feel like I'm to blame too and that I should have seen the signs earlier in our relationship, and that consequently I helped seal his horrible fate that he's going to have to fight so hard against now to get his life even remotely back in order."

Will's dark blonde brow furrowed just marginally, signalling his disapproval at my comment.

"Don't even _think_ about blaming yourself Bella... You are so far from being to blame for any of this."

"If I'd dealt with our relationship better, maybe if I'd been more supportive or if I pushed him to get help or something, I could have stopped it getting this far! I think I pushed him over the edge by leaving him..."

I suddenly became grateful for my focused and intent gaze looking down at Allie as the little girl is peacefully occupied by her deep sleep within my arms as my eyes helplessly began to well up purely from explaining just the tip of the iceberg of my current and overwhelming feelings to Will.

Thankfully, my eyes were in a far less obvious position to be noticed as they reached the verge of beginning to rapidly welcome tears to my cheeks.

"This is partly my fault" I blubbered, verbally reaffirming my thoughts as they easily passed through a filter-free state where shutting myself up is of an extremely low priority. "If only I hadn't led him on that night when we were out to dinner before I left him and I never should have accepted the proposal... And if I hadn't left he wouldn't have wanted to kill himself!"

The last seven words I spoke marked the conclusion of any composure I had managed to salvage from the sudden realization of what I had endured through the wreck of one day. While I had already shed a few tears earlier while envisioning the worst case scenario of losing Allie, the time had come for all of the bottled up tears to run free, regardless of whether I wanted them to or not.

"Oh Bella..." Will sighed as I felt a few locks of hair being shifted from covering my face and particularly my dampened eyes before the movement is furthered, with an arm being wrapped around my shoulders as a comfort that I hadn't felt in nearly two years. "None of that stuff with Dan is even remotely your fault Bells. This probably would have happened with or without you at some point in time."

While I knew Will's doing his best to comfort me and shield me from feeling additional pain, my thoughts continued to spur on from bad to worse.

I trembled as my thoughts furthered.

I knew I had had a bad day, the day from hell even, but I also knew that it is nowhere near as bad as it had the potential to be.

What if Will and I _hadn't_ made it into the apartment in time? What if Daniel had the chance to finish what he started? What if I walked into a hanging corpse instead of the man I managed to persuade to hold onto life? ... I couldn't even _begin_ to imagine all the 'what if's' that surrounded finding Allie safely and I knew that I wouldn't be able to keep the last meal I had eaten down if I allowed myself to.

That is when I made the realization, connecting the dots between Daniel and Allie and believing I had reached a greater understanding of the events of the day.

"I think Dan took Allie as a cry for help... He knew that we wouldn't just sit around waiting for her to be returned and that we'd work out he took her, that we'd find her. I think that deep down, he didn't want to suicide, but he felt that he was in such a hopeless situation that he had no choice. I don't know if he even did it on purpose, but I think that it was all just a cry for help..."

I felt a muscly, yet familiar arm around me squeeze my back before its owner took the chance to reply.

"Yeah, I suppose that would make sense. Well, kidnap should never have been a plan and a part of his agenda... but see, you _saved_ him. That's what matters- you saved his life today. When he dragged himself in so deep, he _wanted_ you to save him. It wasn't your fault."

I nodded, rocking Allie a little more in my arms, even though our dormant daughter didn't need any more help with settling.

"I guess... Thank you."

I give him a small and slight smile, but it was the most relaxed and the biggest smile that I'd been able to manage in the emotional roller-coaster throughout the day. For the first time today, I could truly let out a deep breath, snuggle a little more into the familiar shoulder and hold my daughter a little closer.

I know that Daniel still has a long, long road ahead of him, but that is his journey, his path that he'd been paving for himself over the last few years as he reaped the seed that he had sown.

I had made many good memories with the man, while some of the bad times tainted my thoughts.

I'd done my best.

But he had treated me poorly and now he is paying the price of that.

He had been there for me when I was a young and scared single mother with no idea of what I had gotten myself into, after being throwing into the deep end with a newborn.

I had been there for him in his darkest hour.

At the end of the day, I'd helped him. I'd saved him and we had reached the end of the road in each other's lives.

There is a sort of natural justice that somehow followed every single person's paths in life, guiding us to what we deserve - good and bad. Each of us paying the price or reaping the rewards of our actions in one way or another...

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><p><strong>Now I've got my fire-proof suit on, ready and waiting, again... So, thoughts? Where do your sympathies lie now? We're still yet to see Dan for one last time, but it may not be with who you would expect him to see. Any guesses who Dan's last scene is with in the final?<strong>

**I would love your feedback on anything to do with this chapter. It's such an ethically and morally blurred chapter so I'd love your opinions on the circumstance, but it also such an emotional chapter that I had to spend a lot of time to get into the darker zone and head-space to write this in so I really hope I could pull it off. Absolutely any feedback you have, I'll take it. It's a longer chapter so generally like a few more reviews than last chapter.**

**I know that I could have killed Dan and I'm sure that a fair few of you probably wanted that to happen, but honestly, how much of a better person would it have made Bella than Dan is if she had just walked away without trying to save him? Not to mention, would anyone really be able to leave someone they loved in that situation. **

**Personal situations can never, ever, ever excuse domestic violence. However, a****s easy it is to see one side of the story, Daniel has his side too. He was an extremely broken man before he became abusive. To be able to see that side of the story, I really, really have to thank my friend's fiance for helping me see the other side of the coin. You wouldn't be able to tell from the guy he is now, but a few years ago he went through a similar ordeal as Daniel's fictional one when his baby sibling who he had been raising, died in his arms. In his grief, similarly to Dan, he became violent until he reached an all-time low and decided to turn his life around. I really hope that I could tell both sides of the story and do it justice.**

**Next chapter: Triggered by an overreaction, Zane bites the bullet.**


	37. Displacement

**Oh man. I feel a little sad... This, my dearest readers, is the last full POV, normal chapter of 'Far From Perfection' until the sequel.**

**Apologies in advance if anything in the formatting or editing of this chapter is off. Having hassles with my computer so am forced to do everything on my iPad which I'm still getting used to after getting it a week ago! **

**Now, the lovely and deserving reviewers that are appliable for receiving a POV after this chapter are... **

- _Marril96_  
><em>- H2O forever<em>  
><em>- H2Ozikkiaddict<em>  
><em>- ObsessedwReading<em>  
><em>- zikki 3<em>  
><em>- blitzholly<em>  
><em>- WALIXELA<em>

**Once you have R&R'ed this chapter, I will send you a message asking who's POV you want. You will either receive it very shortly, or after the next chapter (if the POV you want is not featured until the second half of the final and last chapter). I advise that you choose a guy, so say if you LOVE Clewis, pick Lewis as it'll make sense to read his POV as Cleo follows on from him. The same applies with Bella and Rikki. You can ask for whoever you want, but it would make much more sense to choose and read Will or Zane first then. **

**I may not reply immediately as I will be out all day seeing a few different lots of friends tomorrow. **

**PS. My little goal is to get to 600 reviews by the end of this story. Think we can do it guys?!**

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><p><strong>Chapter 37 – Displacement<strong>

_Zane's POV _

The last week or so, the house and everybody within it had been in a complete shambles.

Since Allie's kidnapping when the Daniel situation had well and truly hit its traumatic climax, the mother-daughter duo had temporarily moved into the house too, until Bella found a safer place for them to start a fresh, which she guaranteed me she would do as soon as she could.

In less than six months, our mansion had digressed from being a bachelor pad for just myself and Will where we lazed around, lacking domestic cleanliness to now where we had become an outnumbered minority against the four other girls we were sharing our home with.

Even from what our house and household was a week ago compared to the present seemed like a whole other world...

Every single powerpoint in the house has been either in use, or fought over to be able to charge or power electronic items.

Food has been coming close to non-existent, despite how much had been bought by whoever did the daily shopping.

Silence was another pleasure which had faded away from the now bountiful creation of noises between people talking, yelling, arguing; televisions, phones or music playing, a crying baby and normal day-to-day actions that produced sounds.

Not to mention the fact that trips to the bathroom had become so brief and rare between the three girls who never-failed to use and occupy it to maintain hair, teeth, makeup, you name it as if it were an organized relay, holding guard of the fort until their position could be filled by one of the other two girls.

... It really was like a whole other world.

One, when Rikki had moved in had been an adaption. Two, when Tam tagged along it had been a stretch on the living situation. Now with three and four since Bella and Allie had moved in had become insane.

Any other twenty-two-year-old would believe living with threewomen would be a dream of the greatest fantasy. It probably is if the girls were three silent, _Victoria's Secret_-clad drama-free, emotion-less robots.

Not so much when one is underage, one is a parent with your best mate and the last one is your ex-girlfriend. Each and every one of those girls had their own baggage and current dramas plaguing their lives, turning the house upside down.

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><p>When Saturday morning came around, everyone was in a relaxed and chilled out mood.<p>

Bella sat on the couch dozing in and out of sleep as she supervised Allie eating her breakfast in front of the television, watching Tangled. The Disney flick was a favourite movie of the one-year-olds which every member of the household had become _well_ acquainted with, being able to recite the narration word for word by now.

On the single armchair, Will sat half-attentively watching Allie and the movie as his attention was shared between the girl, the television screen and the mobile phone in his palms.

Tam occupied the last lounge with Bella and Will's daughter, feeding her as they watched the movie together. The two youngest girls had taken a particular liking to one another since Allie and her mother had moved in.

Even from the kitchen, I resisted the urge to hum along to the melody, solely due to the familiarity of the repeated song as '_Mother Knows Best_' echoed through the surrounding rooms of the house.

Although I never did, the fact that I had even _considered_ humming it is a pretty good indication of just how warped my house had become...

In the space of one week, each and every one of the existing member's had been transported to an alternative universe just from having a kid in our house.

For Will and I, our general cleanliness, language and habits had been transformed – as Rikki had been nagging for us to do ever since she had moved in. Rikki's tendency to shout or yell, instead of calmly discussing matters had been altered completely to avoid frightening Allie, while Tam had just become this nanny-robot, two steps behind Bella 24/7, eager to do absolutely anything that was vaguely related to Allie.

The best behavioural psychologists would never be able to control or alter four people's lives as greatly as the oblivious one-year-old had!

"If I have to see Rapunzel _once_ more, I swear I'll chop her hair off before anyone else in the movie has the chance to" Rikki grumbled sarcastically as she walked into the kitchen. I failed to distinguish whether she was sharing the comment with me in particular or just venting aloud to whoever heard.

I sniggered at Rikki's remark, knowing exactly how she felt as I finished wiping the last newly clean dish from the dirty dishes that had been allocated as my duty to cleanse.

"Hey, where's the tea towel?" Rikki added while looking around the room, pausing as our eyes met to display her confusion, and this time I knew she _is _talking to me.

I could feel the synthetic rectangle of material that Rikki was looking for in my hand which I hadn't had a chance to put down since drying the last glass of the dish, but I failed to put it down just yet, maintaining its hidden shelter in my hand.

"I think it's hanging out with a pretty amazing guy. Don't know who though."

"Well it can't be you then" Rikki retorted sharply.

I shrugged. "Apparently that wasn't a nice comment for such an awesome person who doesn't deserve such nastiness. I don't think that that tea towel will want to be found anytime soon now..."

She examined my hands closely, only needing a moment to determine that the badly-hidden tea towel was in my hands, unsurprisingly.

"Zane..." She whined with a roll of her ice blue eyes. "Stop being annoying. Just give the damn tea towel to me."

I smirked at her clear frustration, as always, being motivated and feeling especially empowered by knowing that I had hit Rikki's annoyance in particular. What can I say, I have always been a bit of a sadist and some zebras can never change their stripes. There are just some people that satisfy quirks like that more than others.

Failing to reply to Rikki further than giving her the expression of a smirk obviously moved her to take action. In the same seconds as Rikki reached for and managed to grab a hold of the tea towel, just between a few of her fingers, marked the exact same second that I took further action to hide the soft rectangle. With a flick of my wrist and swing of my arm, I moved it behind my back, attempting to keep it away from and avoiding her grasp, but in that second it happened to be too late.

The repercussion of our unintentionally coordinated actions surprisingly simply resulted in my force pulling Rikki a step closer to myself, closing the gap between the two of us.

As we fully realized the result of our actions, neither of us made any effort to correct the mistake, neither of us succumbing or 'throwing in the towel' for the sake of personal space.

Both Rikki and I are far too proud, and unintended closeness just happened to be a repercussion of that.

Standing in front of one another with mere centimetres between our chests apparently seemed to be no problem, but I knew it could have easily been awkward or uncomfortable. Instead, both of us are far more intent on piercing into and reading one another's eyes, reading what the other was thinking, deciding what our next moves would be as we maintained our own poker faces in yet another game between us.

Only my lips gave me away, spreading into a smirk of revelation regarding my thoughts as it dropped my game and charade I had tried to maintain.

"I know that smirk. You _so_ planned that move, Zane! You can't teach an old dog new tricks..." she debated, attempting to pull off a pout of annoyance that failed in its translation, visibly using a pout to badly cover up her own amused smirk.

The fact that she is trying so hard to conceal her enjoyment of the move could only mean that she is not complaining, and that she even _welcomed_ the accident. Right?

"Oh come one. Don't flatter yourself, Chadwick! And I might be fast and sharp, but I'm not quite at ninja-level yet..."

Rikki took another step closer towards me, and I had no idea that getting even closer to each other was even possible with the gap that is now absolutely minimal between our bodies. But my thinking wasn't all that is overridden by Rikki's unexpected actions.

While the motion felt slow, happening in a slow-motion to allow total awareness, in a matter of moments her hand had flicked and brushed past my stomach, curve-less hip and my back as she quickly snatched the tea towel from behind my back, easily stealing my grasp of the material triggered helplessly by the sensations sent as her hand had touched parts on one side of my body, being too preoccupied and distracted to do anything other than let go.

"I didn't have to flatter myself" Rikki retorted, referring back to my last comment that I had long forgotten. "You just did it for me."

Immediately Rikki stepped back, moving away from myself, exiting the room momentarily and entering again within seconds, throwing the tea towel on the bench, managing to utterly confuse me within less than a minute.

"Thanks for the tea towel. Gotta go, see ya."

Confidently waltzing out through the archway of the kitchen, I heard the blonde's voice echo back through to where I hadn't moved a muscle since she left while she said similar goodbyes to her sister and our friends who were all occupying the lounge room.

Quickly, I hurried out, passing the others and towards the house's front door for a reason that even I didn't understand.

"Where are you going?"

"Just out, _Dad_... I would let you walk me out to the car if you're _so_ concerned about me, but I don't think it would be appropriate without a chaperone. Can never be too cautious, hey?!"

I rolled my eyes. Rikki is never straightforward and I am the idiot for expecting and even considering that she might have been. There is no such thing as simply answering a question.

"Okay. Are you catching up with someone?" I gently questioned, trying to prod her further, but expecting the unfruitful answer more so this time.

"Yeah" she nodded enthusiastically, almost startling me from exceedingly surpassing my expectations. "I heard Barney; the big purple dinosaur is in town, so I thought that we could catch up."

Bam. There is the variation of the answer that I had been expecting all along and while I thought that she had proved me wrong, she had in actual fact just proceeded to prove _just_ how right I am.

"Nice. Say hi to good ole Barnes' for me, won't you?" I replied, contributing to her sarcasm that she had started.

"If you're lucky, I might. Bye" Rikki stated before quickly leaving the hallway through means of the front door that led to the multiple current occupant's of the house's cars, including Rikki's, exiting with an impressive slam.

Re-entering through the archway that I had passed through minutes ago which lead me back into the room that Will, Bella, Tam and Allie were sitting in, I decided that I would try to make myself useful and stay busy to avoid overanalysing my last two confusing discussions with Rikki that would only cloud my blurred thoughts, feelings and perceptions even more – if that is even possible.

"Anyone want a drink?"

Bella, who I had assumed was still dozing on the lounge, surprised me as the first to respond immediately after I posed the question with an enthusiastic response that is complete with a yawn for an added effect: "Coffee, please."

"Can I have a cold Milo? Thanks Zane" is the second reply I received from the younger sister of the woman who I have been trying to push from my mind.

Lastly my offer received a declination from Will, before I re-entered the kitchen, immediately seeing '_the'_ tea towel on the bench. I quickly distracted myself, turning the kettle on and grabbing the instant coffee jar, tin of Milo and went grab the milk from the fridge.

The second that I opened the fridge door to grab the not-present milk carton it became extremely noticeable that there was a risk that we had ran out of milk; especially due to the recent addition of extra mouths in the house.

I extended my search through the fridge, foraging passed various jars, tins, sachets, bottles, cans that are all of the same mediocre significance compared to what I am really looking for, albeit, unsuccessfully.

I snatched my car keys from a bundle that is attached to about three or four others, leaving the kitchen _again_ to inform the other's that I was going out to collect some milk, which was an essential in our house that if it were not needed for the hot drinks, would undoubtedly be needed sometime soon within in the next few hours...

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><p>While I could have taken the faster option to just visit the Deli down the road from the house, I decided to take the marginally longer route of going to the supermarket instead of having to fork out a bank loan to buy a stupid carton of milk from the smaller, closer and far more expensive destination.<p>

Driving to the supermarket I had been completely pleased and unfazed by my 'budgeting' decision when I know that I have always been a bit more of a frivolous spender... Well, I was pleased with my decision _until_ I passed by the dozen local shops that led up to the closest _Coles _supermarket_._

While the bundle of smaller shops are mostly old news that I have passed by many times since living in the current share-house and area of the Gold Coast, there happened to be one that caught my eye and attention as I drove through the newly-reduced to 40 speed limit zone.

_Infusion_, the new Tapas place that had opened in between two other established businesses caught my eye since it had been a topic of discussion with the other's a few nights ago talking about if it is open to the public yet and whether it is even any good.

... That discussion made _so_ much more sense as I drove passed the quaint, yet modern, establishment.

Under one of the large, permanent and logoed umbrellas sheltering a small table beneath it was none other than Rikki sitting in the outdoor Al Fresco dining seating, in full view of and overlooking the main road I was currently driving on.

... Rikki _and_ an unknown guy I had never seen before in my life.

From my brief glance at the guy after recognizing he is Rikki's company, I noted that he sported a medium-dark brown tan which is either natural, melanoma-inducing or as fake as Brynne Edelsten's. The man is evidently toned, muscular and had every bit the sort of body that would be paraded around shirtless, which seemed to be a prerequisite for girls. Even his biceps were of a size that caused me to wonder whether he would even be able to make it through doorways with ease...

Rikki is sitting there eating with a pinup guy!

If I knew he cooks, has a love of small animals and visits his grandma regularly I have no doubt that I will be seeing his face on the news in conjunction to winning the '_Cleo Magazine: Bachelor of the Year Award_'.

As if I wasn't insecure enough as it is over my ex-girlfriend dining with the Gold Coast's latest 'hunk-o-spunk' as my eyes rejoined the road to focus on what lay further ahead, I conveniently remembered _where_ and _what_ they had been eating and sharing.

...Tapas. Stupid, little Spanish appetizers, which had the intention of intimate dining and sharing, especially with people you are either close to or to very obviously send the message that you're wanting to get to know them better...

At this stage, I feel as though I could write an entire novel over the stupidity and downfalls of tapas food.

While I continued driving to the supermarket further along, I suddenly became so interested in the idea of burning down the newest Tapas joint along the boulevard, so my milk-agenda became a welcome distraction that kept me on the right side of the law.

* * *

><p>"Hello?" I bellowed through the house that I realized is surprisingly desolate given the thriving state of energy that I had left it in earlier that day. "Is anyone home?"<p>

I trailed through to the kitchen to put the milk -that seemed to be unneeded after all- into the fridge while I mentally began to compose an exciting list of all the things I could do and enjoy while the house is in its rare silent state, believing that I was home alone until Will entered into the kitchen.

"Hey... Sorry. I was in my room. It's just you and me now though. I think Bella and Tam took Allie to the playground or for a walk or something."

I tried not to reveal too much of my let down at losing the rare opportunity to be home alone to avoid offending my closest mate.

"Okay cool... But just you and me, hey?! It's like the old gang – it's just like the old days with the two bachelor boys again... Well sort of, even though you're not that much of a bachelor anymore."

"I wish I am though. You have _no_ idea how many times I have tried to dump Amy but she's either managed to somehow wriggle out of it or twist my words. It's insane. It's like she has a gift for it... And besides, am I right in saying that you wouldn't be a bachelor anymore if you had a choice?"

I shrugged at Will's question, playing it coy and not even remotely admitting that my answer really is a big, fat yes if I am completely honest with myself, and Will.

"By the way, I saw Rikki at that new tapas place down the road. She was with some guy."

Will's face erupted into an intense smirk while I stood there in genuine fear of what would be coming next...

"How is that a '_by the way'_? It's a totally different subject except for the fact that it relates to you wanting to change your bachelor status! You still have the hots for Rikki, don't you?!"

I didn't give in immediately knowing that it would be far too yielding, easy and un-Zane of me, but I knew Will well and he knew me on an equally knowledgeable basis... The truth is going to come out eventually, even in spite of all my stubbornness.

"No. I just care about her. You should too. Neither of us knows the guy that she is with and much less the sort of person he is! For all that we know he could be another Daniel... Rikki could be in as much danger as we've only just gotten Bella out of! He could be a rapist, a serial killer going after women dining alone in new establishments; he could be a convicted murderer... " I listed off, exaggerating the possibilities in an attempt to subtly persuade and convince Will otherwise and to put him of the initial scent that he had caught onto.

"Well to me, it sounds like a _date_ with a perfectly _normal_ guy. _That's_ your problem, isn't it? You're all caught up on the idea of Rikki on a date, sharing tapas with someone who could be competition for you. Am I right?"

I rolled my eyes, backing away from Will as I walk out of the room to take solace in my un-interrogational bedroom.

As I left the room, I could still hear Will's teases all the way up the stairs as he mocked me, telling me to do something about it when I know that he has all the ammunition and blackmailing power against me that he will need for a year...

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><p>By the next time I came downstairs, many rounds of 'musical rooms' had occurred, with people coming home, moving from one room to the next, noisily might I add, since I had heard the whole lot from my own bedroom.<p>

Down the hallway from my room I had heard Will looking after Allie by the sounds of it, taking the opportunity to bathe her and get her ready for bed, seizing the rare time she was away from Tam who was working on her homework in the dining room as Bella cooked the group meal in the kitchen.

Currently, Rikki was the only occupant whose whereabouts I am not completely sure of, before eventually narrowing it down to her being in her bedroom through the process of elimination.

What I saw at the cafe earlier that day and my partial conversation with Will had been playing on my mind over the last few hours as what had been brewing for a long time was now showing signs of beginning to boil over as I began to lose control on what feelings and thoughts I had managed and tried to hide over the last few months.

All of those factors are what led me to her room, what led to me knocking on her half-opened bedroom door and exposing her position on her desk where she was clicking away madly as she would do when she is completely focused on doing her work from home.

However as she replied to my knock, without even looking to see who is standing at her door, informing me to "come in" is when what had felt _so_ right for so many months, what I had concealed for all that time, began to feel _so_ wrong.

The best that I could compare the feeling to is the little study I did for my end of year exams in year 12, the study that I had felt so sure of and so effortlessly worked on throughout the year. Except for the minute that I walked into the classroom to sit my exams was when my yearlong confidence at my subjects felt so wrong, being completely washed away as I answered the thick paged, large font papers for three hours.

That is what I felt... I felt _nervous_.

While it is a common feeling for most, it is an extreme rarity for me.

"Hey..." I greeted hesitantly as I walked into her room as equally unconfident as my speech. "I saw you out for lunch today..."

"Spying on me, hey?"

I shook my head as my reply to her smirk-infested and joking question.

"You wish... Nah, I was just on a milk-run. I noticed you and a guy sitting out the front of that new Tapas cafe."

"That would've been Hamish... Yeah, we were on a date."

I nodded, trying to apply all of my limited acting skills into delivering my reply convincingly and as though the last six words she said had not affected me whatsoever.

"That's what Will thought."

"You told Will? Will thought I was on a date? Why did you say something to him about it?"

I shrugged, taking a moment to reply and requiring time to convince myself of an answer that did not make me sound like I am an overprotective, creepy housemate and ex-boyfriend.

"I'd never seen him before. I just thought that I would mention something to Will in case he knew more. I care about you, if there was something going on or if there was any chance that you were with someone even potentially dangerous, I would want to know about it. Especially after everything that's happened with Bella lately I figure that it's better to be safe than sorry."

She screwed up her face and I instantaneously knew I needed to brush up on my acting skills.

"Really? That's it? You've been strange all day. The kitchen fiasco... all the questions before I left... talking to Will about seeing me... Do you want me to go on or do you want me to save your never-ending pride?"

I rolled my eyes. While I had entered that room nervously, which had surprised myself, it's the words that came next that surprised me even more than that.

"What do you want me to say. That yes, I was paranoid that you were on a date with a bad guy so I wanted reassurance? That this morning in the kitchen felt like old times when things were _really_ good with us? That I still have ridiculously strong feelings for you? You can pick which part of those answers you want to hear."

And just like that, it's all out in the open. All of my hard efforts to conceal any and all feelings over the past in the difficult situation of the enclosed space of sharing a house with Rikki was now worthless.

My fleeting moment of lacking care of what I said couldn't be taken back and now I was going to have to live with the repercussions.

It all came down to my split second decision to take and deal with whatever would come from my revelation as Rikki's face dropped, surprising her with more shock than I realized I would, as I all the while waited on receiving a _real_ reaction.

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><p><strong>So another chapter bites the dust! We're nearing the end of the H2O clans first 'far from perfect' journey, but I can't wait to lead you onto their next one! <strong>

**Thoughts on the chapter and seeing the world through Zane's eyes? What's Rikki gonna say to that no-detail-spared confession?!**

**Also, a reminder that if your username wasn't on the list in the beginning of this chapter and you wanted it to be, IT'S NOT TOO LATE! Only chapter 34 to this one have to be reviewer and then you're in! Or, if you've reviewed some but not every chapter since then, ask and i will let you know which still needed a review. Win-win! **

**Next chapter: The finale part one! Cleo and Lewis make a big step forward to the future and Daniel receives a very unexpected visitor.**

**Love ya's! **


	38. Endings & Beginnings: Part One

**So here we have the first part of the conclusion of Far From Perfection. Enjoy! I really hope it wraps a few characters lives up for you, with anticipation for the rest.**

**Now I really, really hope that the editing is okay as I was feeling quite dizzy and lightheaded when I was editing parts of this chapter and the next, so who knows what could be in this chapter haha! Not to mention, I don't know what I was thinking at the time, believing it would be a good idea to edit it while I was in that state. **

**Anyway, I hope that everyone who received the bonus POV's enjoyed it and enjoy the rest of what comes next! **

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><p><strong>Chapter 38 – Endings and Beginnings: Part 1<strong>

_-One Month after Chapter 36-_

_Lewis's POV**  
><strong>_

I am bursting at the seams. I am ecstatic. I am feeling everything that I haven't felt in months, and every emotion that I haven't expected to feel again for a long time into my recovery.

This is the best sort of happiness... The sort that takes you completely by surprise in that awesome feeling of joy, all the while in awe of the surprise and your own reaction to the unanticipated expectancy of it.

I can't say that I don't deserve it, though. I can't say that both of us don't deserve it as I know that that is as untrue as a politician claiming that they have never lied. Over the last few months Cleo and I had been through more than some people are put through in a year...

Although our reasoning had originally been a factor kept to ourselves, we had swallowed our pride and asked to move back into Cleo's family home and I had needed to find my feet in the Sertori household where my wife fit in like a glove.

While Don and Sam had originally believed our story of trying to move away from unnecessary expenses to give up our first marital home and save our butts off for the future by simplifying our lives now, the truth didn't take long to come out when we finally confessed just how badly Cleo and myself were at being able to stick to a budget in the beginning of our marriage, managing to rack up debt within mere months.

While I eventually found my feet in my new home that I had seemed to forget had acted as home away from home for most of my life, our financial struggles were a different story. Habits are hard to break and they are even harder to undo.

When overspending wasn't my fault, it was Cleo's and when it wasn't hers, it was mine. We just could not catch a break.

Between the financial struggles, she had a pregnancy scare and in hindsight I had overreacted to the fact that I only discovered that news second-hand, and from Will of all people. Add to that a serious health and medical issue with my diagnosis of Guillain-Barré Syndrome (and I hate to think of the hospital bills that it has amounted to) which has resulted in additional mental and physical turmoil for myself on my road to recovering, while my poor Cleo was helplessly left to deal with the ongoing mental distress of my condition, while I was blissfully unaware from the induced coma.

But for once, today is different.

Today I have seen the light at the end of a very long, very dark tunnel for the first time in months.

Since I woke up discovering I was no longer able to move, the morning after a fight with Cleo, I have been living without that beacon of hope.

Admittedly, I have had the odd flickers of light during my hospital stay with the small milestones I had reached. My smaller achievements had come from the first movements in my hands and more recently, by speaking the first words I was able to utter again for the first time in months and progressing to the point that I can vaguely say some words.

But today, this is the first time that I have really seen and felt a sense of light. A light that is bright enough and strong enough for me to be able to hold onto...

As Cleo entered my room with a big smile on her face, coming to visit me around the same time that she always would after finishing a day of work, I couldn't help but smile too.

She's glowing.

Despite all the stress and drama that my condition has created, since she had returned to work, started socializing again, catching up with the girls more and leaving my hospital bed to go and do things for herself like the odd swim or a movie, I could see the balance in her life and the positive effect it has been having on my life, her mood and her abilities in confronting my recovery... Cleo is doing _so_ well.

She hurried over to my side from the balance bar I was standing up against with a firm latch onto as she gave me a kiss and settled by my side.

"Doing your exercises?"

I nod; another improvement in my physical movements that I have made and managed to achieve.

While Cleo wore an excitement that I could tell is gluing her mouth shut over whatever I could instinctively tell she is dying to tell me, I figured that my news could wait until she released what she needed to say before she bubbled over from her poor secrecy skills.

I just smile and wait, seeing how long it will take before she spills the beans to enable me to have her full attention afterwards.

"So, my day's been pretty awesome. A higher-up worker quit his job earlier this week, right, so a few people have moved up before they employ someone else... Then, when I went on my lunch break, I overheard Laurie talking to someone and going off of what I heard him say, I'm getting a promotion! I'm jumping up to Laurie's position!"

Cleo squealed, enveloping me in an excited hug and I couldn't do much but let my smile translate my pride in my wife and attempt to say: "_Well done_" which is a far easier verbal feat than trying out: "_Congratulations_".

After she stopped bouncing and her smile reduced to a normal degree, I decide that it is the best time for me to reveal my own little source of happiness and self-pride as we both worked our way to self improvement in completely different ways, so we could share our highs with each other.

Almost instinctively, Cleo took a step back and I gave her a look for her to focus her attention on me as I loosen my clutched grip of the handle I have been firmly attached to, moving and using every muscle in my body as though in an intense work out session to make a movement that is so normal. Unfortunately, this move is made to feel seemingly impossible by my condition, until I am able to let go of the bar and show off my own trick...

_Cleo's POV **  
><strong>_

And he takes a step! Plural! Steps! Lewis is walking!

I had been so caught up in my own excitement, at the prospect of getting a much needed promotion in the career that I loved, but in my position which had almost come to a standstill since I first earned it years ago, that I had all the while been oblivious with no idea what monumental milestone Lewis had been bottling up in his very literal steps to recovery.

I had no idea of Lewis being able to take those few steps, just as I had no idea how to react to that exciting piece of news which my husband had just delivered to me through a firsthand display.

At the time, I felt like I was going to burst at the seams if I didn't get to the hospital and into Lewis's room fast enough to tell him _my_ news which I thought could be classified as our most exciting in a few months. However, I'd just learnt that _my_ news of an unexpected promotion is majorly overshadowed by Lewis walking...

Not that I mind.

At all!

My husband's life and health is worth far more than a promotion or even a career _ever _could be.

Lost and caught up in my thoughts, my flurry of excitement, it is only when I notice that I haven't moved a centimetre that I realize my present inner joy had failed to translate to that, physically.

The poor guy is still standing there idly with his enthusiasm fleeing from his face as he awaits my reaction.

In a hurry to react, I unintentionally go from one extreme to the other, throwing my arms around Lewis and momentarily forgetting about his reduced strength and resistance due to the condition, almost knocking my husband over in the process.

I know how hard these last few months have been and I knew about all of the blood, sweat and tears that had been poured out and drained from my husband in his struggle and fight to recovery, in the hope of attaining a somewhat-normal life again.

"I'm so proud of you" I mumble into Lewis's neck from the embrace that I had initiated and pulled him into, holding him with a tight squeeze, sharing my excitement with him as many different ways I possibly can to make up for the ways, like discussing it extensively, that the condition had temporarily disabled Lewis from being capable of doing.

After a while, we return to Lewis's room and the minute that the nurse entered, I began to smother her with my build up of excitable questions and queries.

"So now that he can walk again, does that mean he can do the more intense exercises to speed up recovery? How long until he can be discharged? Will he require any additional rehabilitation measures? Is there anything else that walking means he'll be able to work on doing again? What should he be working towards next?"

... That is just naming a few of the _many _and likely repeated, but reworded, questions that I high jacked and spammed the poor nurse with.

Now that Lewis and I have this newfound and refreshed hope, it felt like anything could be possible now. All of a sudden, my forgotten and left behind hopes of miracles, too, have now become a source of re-evaluation.

After months of being stuck in a rut, stuck with Lewis's illness controlling us, the newfound hope meant that for the very first time, we are, or at the very least _feel_ in control of it. That is what counts, right?

For months, we had been doing our best to roll with the punches in our life as newlyweds, but for months we had slowly been worsening at doing so. From our decreased control with our finances, the trend had been set and progressively declined to the point that we had no choice in having to ask to move back in with my family – unable to cover the cost of rent expenses.

Those same issues had continued, infiltrating into every aspect of our lives and became a difficult focus and burden in our lives, in our careers, in our home lives and in our marriage. My pregnancy scare, which I unintentionally kept from Lewis until I had it confirmed or in this case _not_, had just been the last straw and tip of the iceberg in our gradual breakdown of communication. However, it was those events that had led to our mutual realization of just how bad things had become, before they became even worse with the Guillain-Barré Syndrome reaching its peak we were oblivious to, the morning after our unresolved argument.

But we got through it.

We had gotten through _all_ of it.

After so many hard times, it is so, _so_ completely satisfying knowing that after our rough patch in the recent months as we shared our lives lows with one another and after working so hard to pull ourselves through those harder times together, that _finally_ we had gotten through the bad stuff -for a while at least- to reach the point that we are now... Reveling in the happiness of good times.

... _Together_.

At any point over the last few months I would have done anything and given anything in order for a role reversal to take place... anything to get me out of the situation we were in which had seemed hopeless for a while there. But now, in hindsight, I've truly come to learn and appreciate the truth of the words '_what doesn't kill you makes you stronger'_.

_We_ –both Lewis and I- are stronger for all the difficulties –emotional, physical or both- that we have been put through.

Additionally, if our marriage and our love has survived, being reaffirmed and re-established more than ever, then I think that is a pretty good indication of how strong our marriage _really_ is...

I have never been one to easily be able to control my excitement. That was indicated by my speechlessness at Lewis's surprise for me, then my reaction which almost knocked him over (with the potential to make matters worse), and then by failing at controlling my tongue and taming my enthusiasm as I grilled the nurse for every little detail about what happens from here. Just to unbridle my excitement further, I remember the others and that I should let our families and friends know about Lewis's latest and most recent development.

I selected a few particular names and composed a new message to share our excitement with our nearest and dearest.

"**Lewis is getting better! HE WALKED!"**

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><p><em>Will's POV<em>

I heard the alert jingle within my pocket and extracted my mobile device from my pocket, all the while not bothering to halt or slow my speed as I uncertainly made my way through the unfamiliar and high-security hallways. I didn't know where exactly I am going and whether I am even headed in the right direction, not to mention the fact that I am still uncertain whether or not I should be here at all. Would it really make things better, for anyone, or would it just aggravate the situation even further?

Before reading the message I had just received, I held my breath momentarily in the hope that it is not another message of desperation from my recently ex-girlfriend, Amy, begging for us to rekindle our very brief relationship. I knew she had been clingy and into me to an extreme, but the amount of calls and messages that I still received from her daily was uncanny, like nothing I'd known before. I'd met up with her a few times since I broke up with her, but every call and every meeting had been the exact same as she pleaded for another chance.

I had never loved Amy and while I had been trying to find a way to end things after a month, she had already jumped the gun and been looking into wedding dresses. Even though I felt detached from Amy, after shamefully only starting a relationship with her to gain information on Bella, it had still been the most draining and long-winded break up I'd ever been through.

However as I did read the message from Cleo on the small screen, it proved a useful distraction to shift my thoughts onto a better path than my worries. I couldn't help but smile at the words and feel the joy that is being sent along with the message, despite feeling the prod of a reminder within my conscience over what a lousy friend I have been recently and how greatly I had neglected my other friends like Cleo and Lewis when I'm sure they both needed all the help and support that they could get through Lewis's illness recently.

I drag my eyes away from my phone and make a mental note to reply later, and continue counting, anticipating and reading the numbers on each of the doors that looked the same, just repeated over and over again down the long, cold corridor, looking for the one door and door number that is set aside from all the others, due to my purpose for approaching that one.

I knock on the door after reaching door number 52; the number I'm after, before the door is answered within under a minute. The door swung open to a familiar face, but a face that I could clearly see all confusion and inquisitiveness from regarding my visit.

"What the hell are you doing here? You're the last person I would pick for visiting me. Seriously, the late Steve Irwin is higher up on the list than you."

I smile marginally at the remark from someone I had never experienced humour, in any sort from, in my past, brief experiences with him.

"If you don't mind, I would like to talk to you for a few minutes. I'm not here to cause trouble or make you feel worse, but there are a few things I've been thinking about that I need to tell you."

Daniel appears to ponder my words momentarily before shifting the door to his temporary, high-security psychiatric cell that I could only imagine was far more lavish than a jail cell, open further to allow me entry into the room too, before we both settle in our consecutive seats silently, waiting for what I have to say.

"I want to thank you."

Dan's face and expression is visibly overcome by even further confusion at my comment.

"You are joking, right? What could you _possibly_ want to thank me for?"

Don't get me wrong. There was a part of me, a very strong and dominant part of me that wanted to bash the guy to a pulp or worse, putting him through the physical pain that he had made Bella endure through alone. However, that was until I really realized that it was a stronger pain to let him suffer mentally, knowing that while a bashing might balance the scales in a tit-for-tat manner, the best way to let him suffer was in his own mind, knowing there was no way he could possibly compensate for what he had done.

"Listen. Although I do not agree with the way treated Bella, _at all_, and I am completely against any form of abuse, but I think I owe you a thank you or two for everything that you've done for Allie. Bella isn't my duty, per se, but Allie is my responsibility and you looked after her and provided for her when I should have been. You were a father-figure to her when she needed one. Despite everything else, Bella has never had a bad word to say about the way you treated or how you dealt with and cared for Allie."

I watch as he shrugs nonchalantly, and I can tell the guy I am talking to currently is a very different to the aggressive and seemingly egotistical person that I had first met. He seemed calm... humble even. My present impression of him far exceeds that of my original one. Maybe there is a partial amount of the guy that is human after all.

"Allie's a good kid" he shrugs again before continuing to reply. "She's easy to look after and not much trouble at all... That would have more to do with you and Bella's genetics than any of the raising I ever did."

In my initial compliment to the other man, I saw several ways that he would have been able to take what I told him...

He could have smugly accepted the remark, as though I was just repaying what was owed to him.

He could have showed that he agreed with what I said, but thanked me for drawing attention to the praise.

... Or, as he did, he could brush off the compliment and turn the attention away from himself.

"Well yes, but haven't you heard of nurture versus nature? Both are applicable and mould the sort of person someone becomes. So, I guess we've _both_ played a part in Allie, while Bella's just done an all-round amazing job."

"You're right. She is one incredible woman." Daniel's face brims with a smile while I'm left to feel somewhat uncomfortable knowing that he is smiling about Bella, which felt especially wrong and impermissible after the way he had treated her.

I nod.

"Yeah... She is. Anyway, I just wanted to pop past and say thanks but I should get going" I comment, remembering my scheduling of briefly allowing a very small amount of time to visit Dan before I was due to met up with the girls at Surfer's Paradise.

"Alright... Thanks for coming anyway. You didn't have to do that."

Again, I take a moment to nod at his comment before I reply. "I am really sorry that everything had to come to what it did in order for you to start getting the help that you needed all along. I hope you recover in here well and bounce back from facing all your demons."

"Thank you. I mean that. You didn't have to come here and I know that I don't deserve a thank you from you for caring about them or anything like that. I guess it just shows that at the end of the day, _you're_ the better man."

I trail off with a: "thanks...", as I once again begin to leave, before being stopped, _again_, as Daniel continues to speak.

"The next time you see her, would you please be able to tell Bella that I'm never going to forgive myself for the things I've done to her and the way I hurt her. No one, and especially not Bella, deserves that... I know an apology is nowhere near enough, but can you also tell her that I promise to leave her alone so that she can move on with her life."

Daniel pauses, looking away from me regretfully and away from my eye contact before continuing. "She deserves the best in her life... I don't even deserve for her to think about me."

"I'll let her know" I say, informing the guy with a nod, really not too sure of what else to say to him. "Anyway, I'll see you around. Bye."

With a goodbye from Daniel, I left the room, with a final glimpse at the man who I had witnessed putting my ex-girlfriend through hell. Even if he is remorseful and even if he is on the road to recovery, all I did as I left is hope that I never have to see the bastard again.

That one guy had marked a source of extreme turbulence in the last few months, which looking back on it now; I realize it had been rather extravagant, but not in a good way...

Just months ago, I'd seen Bella for the first time since our break up, as well as Rikki after she moved in with Zane and I for the first time since cutting contact with Zane shortly after school had wrapped up, and then myself too when Bella and I's relationship had ended. My former friend moving in had led to working on rebuilding that friendship with Rikki, which with a person like her is way harder than it seems. All the while through that time too, just pop in a few other details that can hardly be classified as a 'big deal' to have to deal with... Details like discovering Daniel was abusing Bella, forming a new relationship (which before last week, I thought was impossible to end!) with an overwhelmingly attached girlfriend and not to mention the discovery and aftermath of learning that I had obliviously fathered a child the year before last.

Being torn away from my thoughts and remembering my tight timetabling, I glance down at my watch and note the time, which had crept past faster than what I had realized, noticing that at this rate, I am likely going to be running late for the catch-up.

... _To be continued_.

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><p><strong>So after 38 turbulent chapters, how does everyone feel about Cleo &amp; Lewis's conclusion? Will is going to be featured a little more in Bella's so although he is close to the end, it's not quite over for him yet! What did everyone think of Cleo and Lewis's little silver linings after a fair bit of darkness? And who thought <em>Will<em> would see _Daniel_? What did you think about that meeting? **

**Now, I have most of the plots and storylines for the sequel locked in already so it's highly unlikely to change things, but I'm curious to know what my readers are hoping for with the characters in the sequel? As always, I'm very interested in your feedback and thoughts. **

**Also, if anyone missed out on the initial review incentive and really wanted one of the POV's from the second half of the final, then let me know if you want to know which chapters you didn't review from chapter 34 or review them all and I will be happy to send either Bella, Zane or Rikki's POV through to you!**

**Don't forget that the more feedback and reviews, the sooner the final chapter will be up! xox**


	39. Endings & Beginnings: Part Two

**Wow. Here we are. For a while there, I never thought this chapter would come, especially last year when Far From Perfection became roughly my 694th priority and I couldn't see life passed what seemed like never finishing high school! **

**Anyway, exciting times as I conclude this story and even more exciting times as you all get to wait for what else is coming up! **

**Also, if you have a Tumblr account, I created a Far From Perfection blog to post additional pictures related to this story (there'll be more posts in the lead up to and for the sequel), sneak peeks, excerpts and visual aids of my own characters, etc! The site is: ffpstory . tumblr . com (just remove the spaces!).**

**I would love for the trivia chapter (there's more info in the final AN) to be up this week, but I'm living in crazy busy wedding world so who knows. Honestly, I am having to re-shuffle ENTIRE days at the moment to prioritize bridesmaids duties and wedding stresses! **

**Enjoy and savour the final FFP xx**

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><p><strong>Chapter 39 – Endings and Beginnings: Part 2<strong>

_-Still one Month after Chapter 37-_

_Bella's POV**  
><strong>_

I look down to the screen of my phone while juggling between drinking my hot Dulce De Leche and bouncing my daughter on my lap, occupying her restlessness since she had been unhappy in her pram. Checking the time on my phone, I realize that Will, for possibly one of the first times I could recall, is running _late_.

If either of us has the excuse to be late, it's me, after only having shifted into a new and significantly smaller apartment nearby in Mermaid Bay just days ago.

The small detail and Will's lateness simply acted as a reminder that times really _have_ changed... It's a bit scary to think that even the old habits that previously altered and dictated the course of our day-to-day lives are being modified.

Really, when I sat back to think about it, even my life had gone through drastic changes of its own in the last few months. Just months ago, Daniel's abuse had gone from being in its earliest and mildest stages not long before I bumped into Will again for the first real time since our break up. Then increasingly recently, Daniel's attacks had intensified to the point that I fled him to stay with Rikki and the boys while he'd gone further north. Those events began the domino-effect of the other's discovering my secretive abusive relationship that I'd been trying to shelter, along with the daughter I had hidden from Will. While I didn't think it at the time, those events had all helped and played crucial roles in the lead up to me being able to finally flee from Daniel and our short engagement before he turned the tables again after he took Allie the day that we found him ready to end his life.

Being shaken from my thoughts, I notice the blonde I had been waiting for walking off Cavill Avenue and into the circular-like courtyard of Circle on Cavill, his head darting around uncertainly before seeing the sign and approaching _San Churro_. He obviously hasn't been to what I would now call one of my favourite cafes before.

I wave to Will and I can see the confidence in his sense of direction increasing with every step as he trails over to us. In the time it takes Will to reach our table, I am able to view the seating arrangement and the chair opposite to me, shuffling on my seat just a little to get a better position to be able to see and talk to my company.

"Hey... Sorry I'm running a bit late" Will greets, as he nears us and sits down in the seat I had expected him to sitting directly across from Allie and I.

As I shrug his lateness off, not even considering to tel him about the fact that I'd thought about it further than the fact of just wondering where he was, I look down to Allie out of habit when I had nowhere else to look to avoid blurting out my consideration of how his lateness is just another example of how greatly things have changed.

Looking at my tot sitting on my lap, I notice something. A combination of what and who. I could tell she was looking at something with a recognition that was only on her face with very familiar places and people compared to her usual starry-eyed innocence in Allie's little world of oblivion... However, at this present moment she is looking across the table at her father who had only recently become a part of her life.

"She recognizes you, Will."

Will's smile increased from his usual pleasant demeanor during greeting me, evolving into a more genuine beam of surprise.

"You think so?"

I nod, while he silently enjoys Allie's recognition, directing a small wave at our daughter sitting on my lap as her face burst into an amused grin too. The part that I didn't tell Will was that entertaining her is an easy achievement for everyone as he looked even more thrilled that he'd made her smile.

"So, what important reason do you have for being late to see us?!" I joke with a stern tone, as though the penalty of such an action would be execution.

"I saw Daniel, actually."

Of all of the potential answers that I had been expecting, '_I dropped into China_', '_I got caught up with looking into and researching Retirement Villages_' and '_I developed a new skill and began training with the Women's Olympic Gymnastics team_' all ranked higher in likelihood than what '_I saw Daniel_' did.

"What? Daniel as in my Daniel? Where did you see him? Is he out of the ward already?! Don't tell me the Police let him go..."

Will shakes his head across the table from me and I reach the conclusion just before he utters the words. "No. I went to see him."

"Is he okay? How is he doing?"

"He's getting better... You can tell. He'll get there" Will says before a pause, as though considering whether he should or should not do or say something. "He asked me to pass a message onto you... He said he would never be able to forgive himself for what he did to you or the way he hurt you. He wanted me to tell you that because he knows that an apology isn't enough, that he promises that he will leave you alone and let you move on with your life."

Without noticing the sensation, I realize that my eyes were on the verge of overflowing in their tear-filled canyons. It's completely stupid. I thought that I had managed to at least get to a point of partial desensitization, where I could hear Daniel's name and remember the night that his breakdown really peaked, without bursting into tears like an emotional wreck.

"Sorry" Will seems to cringe as he looks up from Allie. I can see his uncertainty as the result from telling me the message he had been urged to pass onto me, which was the first communication I had had with Daniel since the night I had persuaded him not to commit suicide.

"I didn't know if I should have said anything to you or not..."

While I didn't quite know what to say, what to think and what to do from there, I decide to try and move on with my thoughts in that present moment – not allowing Daniel to unknowingly capture anymore of my thoughts or heart, hence moving the subject along at the same time, giving it a different spin.

"I'm great with this whole guy thing, hey?!" I can't help but laugh. If I didn't laugh, I wouldn't be surprised if I cried.

Will laughs at my comment with a nod. "You're too hard on yourself! But I like to think that you didn't choose _too_ badly with me.."

It's the truth. I _didn't_ choose too badly with Will... So much for hindsight, improved decision-making or anything like that as you get older; I had a better judgement when I was younger than I had far more recently!

"You're right, I didn't. You were always a good guy... My only regret with us is how bitterly and stubbornly we ended."

"I know, but we were both at fault. If you hadn't of been so bitter and if I hadn't of been so stubborn, it could have changed a lot of things..."

With Will's reply, I cannot mistake his fixed gaze on our daughter alluding to some of his last words, before he continues to speak after I unknowingly gave him the cue in the form of a nod to continue doing so.

"At the end of the day, though, I think we both paid the price for our own mistakes. The way we broke up meant that you had it harder with Allie and you had all that difficulty of having to raise her on your own, while I've missed a lot of things that can't be replaced -her birth and the magical moments of meeting her as a newborn, her first tooth, first time she crawled, first words, first steps..."

I nod at the truth of Will's summary. Yes. A lot of damage _had_ been done during our breakup and although I called quits first, we both knew it had been coming from the lead up of events around that time. It was my bitterness over those events that led to me breaking up with him, but he had just furthered the damage by cutting all contact with me, especially to the extent that I couldn't pass on the news he'd desperately needed to know in the first place – not until almost two years later.

"But we're all good now, right? We're friends, aren't we?" I ask to confirm where we each stand with each other, and in one another's lives now.

He gives me a nod with a warm smile that acts as more reassurance than any words could equate to.

"Of course we're friends. I propose that we just forget about everything that happened with us in the last twenty months or so and just start with a clean slate. That way you and I can focus on the future and work on the two of us working together for one little person as friends. How does that sound?"

I nod enthusiastically at the proposition put forward to me as he holds his larger hand out to me to shake from across the table – the universal gesture of sealing the deal.

"I do have one more question for you, though" Will states and the wording worries me, sounding as though he is bracing me for a harder answer to face, while I try to hide my nervousness over the impending question with a nod for him to continue.

"Adelaide Benjamin... Where the _heck_ did that come from?! I always just assumed her name was Allie Hartley!"

I laugh at the manner of which Will poses the query to me, but shrug off the question itself to show that it is no big deal, just like it isn't.

"I don't know... But I guess both our names are shortened and I like nicknames so that just become something I'd look for when looking for baby names and I just stumbled across her name and liked 'Adelaide'. Then with the 'Benjamin', there was never any secret or question of who her father was between the people that did know about Allie, so the big deal was just the fact that _you_ didn't know about her. Besides, it sounds stupid, but I didn't want one of those situations like on TV where when's she's older and starts asking the harder questions about you it hurts my relationship with her because she'd never known or had any way to find you if she wanted, so I just figured she could take Benjamin to save dramas. Besides, with having your last name and if you hadn't found out about her, at least she'd always have one big part of you and know that you weren't a nameless monster or the sort of person I'd want to completely shun from her life."

Will smiles as he looks over to Allie once again, watching her occupy herself with my car keys. "Well thank you, Bella. That's really nice of you to have done that."

"It was no problem" I smile and a silence ensues until one of us comes up with the next topic as quickly as we can to avoid any prolonged or awkward silences.

"So, something I've been meaning to ask you about. Have you won that bet yet?! I couldn't remember whether it was you or Tam that said it would take them over a month and which one of you said it would take them under a month..."

He shakes his head with a smile of amusement flitting across his face. "No. No one's won... _Yet_. I thought it would take them less than a month to get their act together and finally hook up, but she thought it would take them over a month."

"Wow. I would have bet on what you did though, so I'm a bit surprised it's taken them so long. Then again, for two such stubborn and strong-willed and fierce people, they can both be totally pathetic wimps..."

_Zane's POV **  
><strong>_

It has been a month.

The ball has been in Rikki's court for an entire, freaking month!

When I shared my well-suppressed feelings for Rikki with her, I had not been anticipating a 30 day waiting period!

Sure, I'd played the waiting game before, but I have never been in _this_ situation before... in the past it has always been _me_ playing the games. I was always the one playing hard to get, as the other party waited on a response from me with a sweating brow. Even despite my past experience when the ball would be in my courst, I still felt completely unfamiliar with all forms of responding-to-feelings etiquette.

The most puzzling part of the whole dynamic is that Rikki has carried on with her life as usual, even more casually than she ever had, after I revealed my feelings in a move that I am coming to seriously regret doing.

I thought it had been strange that at the time when I told her all she did was shrug it off and walk out, but now it's getting to the point that she is just doing my head in. However, since that day when she walked out, wordlessly, she has failed to do or say one single thing that even _remotely_ acknowledges what I said to her.

In fact, it is becoming such a mind-boggling mind-game to the extent that I'm beginning to second guess myself about whether or not I did even tell her, or whether I have just been stupidly expecting fruition after having a vivid dream.

Now, once again in my life, I have reached another major crossroads as to what I am to do next. Part of me wanted to just let any memory of what I said to Rikki (that's if it _isn't_ all just a dream!) dwindle away to non-existence, until all is forgotten about by both of us.

But, who am I kidding? That option is for wusses. Forgetting all about it is for those people pathetic enough to be mushy enough to reveal feelings, but then become a nervous wreck for doing so, outing any trace of it as soon as they possibly could. It is like making the choice to run a red light and then stopping in the middle of the crossroads or intersection because you regret it... And, strangely enough, that option can be more dangerous than the alternate of no-looking-back.

What I _needed_ to do was pull the ball back into my court and hope that she will finally address it this time!

I set my thoughts into action, getting up to search the house for my ignorant housemate.

Doing so, I considered how I'd gotten to this point... Just months ago, after she first moved in I had wondered whether Rikki and I would ever really be on speaking terms again, despite the fact that we lived in the same house and shared a roof. I can't even remember a particular point in time when that changed and when she started to acknowledge me, or when the dimensions shifted. I couldn't remember when the state of our share house really began to change and I have even less understanding of _when_ I had began to feel those old feelings crawl out from the shells that they had been doing well at hiding under and resurface within me, demanding attention all of a sudden.

Of course, they weren't the only events of the last few months and since then there'd also been the redevelopment of our new-and-improved friendship as our household trio dealt with whatever hit us, which had mostly been impacting my housemates while I had managed to escape the blows that Rikki and Will had copped with illegitimate sister's or daughter's. Instead, I'd had the role of helping out whoever needed me more with each and every grenade that was being dropped on us for several months in a row, along with all the other chaos caused directly and indirectly by my housemate's relation to the two separate girls.

However, now it's my turn. It's my turn to deal with me and my feelings, rather than alternating between being Will's wing-man or acting as a bouncer to separate Rikki and Tam when the girl's arguments grew heated, which has the tendency to occur more often than not.

"Rikki" I call as I enter the kitchen, speaking to the blonde who appeared to be mid-pantry raid. "You got a minute?"

"Uh, sure Zane... If you want to interrupt a girl while she's feeding her face, go right ahead, but don't go grumbling to me when you have to deal with the consequences."

I shrug and settle on one of the bar-stools adjoined to the bench. At least if Rikki got violent, there's still a whole, thick marble bench between us. "I'll risk it. I need to talk to you."

She turned away from the cupboard, giving me a look of seriousness before her focus reverted back to the sources of food.

"I know I've sort of left it be and not pushed the matter at all or anything like that, but it's not fair for you to just string me along, without an answer and continue as if I didn't tell you that I still like you. That would be all well and good, ideal even, if you'd told me straight out to just get over it and that you don't feel the same way."

I pause and look up from the bench that I had been looking down at as I focused on trying to find the best words to say to express myself. As I look up, two things catch my attention.

Firstly, I notice that at some point I have caught Rikki's attention again as she looked at me, waiting for what follows the pause. Secondly, out of the corner of my eye, I see a tea towel... '_the_' tea towel, hanging off of the oven door with its distinguishable RSPCA logo and animal-friendly image which Will had received quire recently for donating a certain amount of money to the animal organization.

Between the two symbolic cues, I am spurred to continue on and conclude my explanation, which I plan to tie in with a neat little ultimatum.

"So, you need to give me an answer. I need you to give me an answer so I can do something about it. Do you like me too, or do I need to start coming up with an excuse to make things less awkward? Something like telling you I was drunk and had no what I was saying, let alone thinking, or something like that? I need to know whether I should just move on or not."

_Rikki's POV_

The question I have been working my hardest to avoid and dodge for the last month had been brought up.

The question that even I don't know the answer to...

Well I do know the answer, but I don't want to know it. I mean _really_ don't want to.

Some people battle with reading and comprehending their feelings or emotions, but that is one skill that I have never had any trouble with. I have always been very in tune with my feelings.

If I don't like someone, I tell them. If I don't like something, I change it. If I want something, I'll do something to get it. If I don't want something, I won't take it.

It is as simple and straight forward as that. There is no need to write a guidebook about it or second guess the feeling by trying to talk yourself out of it. I have always been puzzled over why those lines of feelings and emotions can be so blurred for some people, why there are so many grey areas and wishy-washy blurred lines..

_That_ is why I am finding it so hard to just swallow my pride, the past and all common sense that I have developed over the few years to accept my feelings for my ex-boyfriend that had either never really gone away but stayed undetected or just decided to make a reappearance more recently.

Even after five years, since Zane and I had first gotten together much to my excitement and bitterness I've realized that even after of this time, either after all this time or for the second time, I am unable to push away and minimize my feelings that I so desperately wish to.

"I hate myself for this. I really, really do, because I know how bad we are for each other and how we end up bringing the worst out in each other, but I think it's taken me so long to acknowledge what you said because I feel the same or a similar way too. I swear that I don't want to!"

A moment of looking startled fleeted across Zane's face as though he had never expected that me still liking him is even a vague, remote a possibility. He quickly bounces back, with a smirk to match the mockery of his following comment.

"Ever the romantic... 'I'll take a month to tell you that I still like you, even though I wish I didn't'. You really know how to flatter someone, don't you?"

I roll my eyes. "Can we just get this over with already?! I like you, you like me, let's get together and be hap-py... Do I really need to sing and make up my own lyrics to anymore of that '_Barney'_ song?! Just shut up and kiss me already before I can convince myself of what an idiot I am or let me go and die in a hole of my own embarrassment."

"'_Shut up and kiss me'_... what's your name? Reece Mastin? Interesting combination – Barney and Reece Mastin... I can see this working out!" Zane teases as he gets up and moves closer towards me, further within the kitchen. By now he is already annoying me as my head begins to take reign of my heart that had already trumpeted ahead to Zane.

It's a bit late.

I'm caught unaware and snapped out of my thoughts by my lip's unexpected, yet familiar union with a pair of thin, supple lips.

Just like riding a bike.

Just as you catch a rhythm, you remember and sense the repetitious actions of moving pedals and controlling a bike, just as a smooth and fluid pace instinctively begins to be followed.

As with the force of crashing lips, a very different flood of memories is ignited by the kiss and for a brief moment of toe-tingling, heart-fluttering happiness there is an awesome bridge of connecting the old with the new... Before the very new and _very_ uninvited interrupts with a squeal that ended our moment for the time being.

"You dirty dogs! I knew it!" Tam squealed in excitement, with a louder-than-intended single clap of her hands together.

"Please tell me that you two have been some big juicy, scandalous secret. Our household is in dire need of some spicing up! It's been going on for months? Hasn't it?! You've been together behind our backs, trying to hide your love for each other!"

Tam's imagination is obviously working in overtime, while that girl is in serious need of a hobby.

"No, Tam. Just no! The scandal has been scandalous for what, about all of two minutes, sorry to say."

"Damn it" Tam replied and I struggled to distinguish whether it is genuine or exaggerated disappointment within the situation that my sister is apparently completely riveted by. "Oh well. Will still owes me 15 bucks so it's all good... Thanks guys!"

I look to Zane to momentarily gauge his thoughts on what sounds like a bet. Over the two of us...

"Were you betting on us Tam?! What was the bet about?"

I didn't know whether to be seriously annoyed by the two's scheming behind our backs, or seriously enthused that they'd been betting on us.

"Will and I were having a shot at who was closest to estimating when you two would finally give it a shot again. We knew that it was a matter of when, not _if_."

A look of offence fleeted over my face which had my younger sister grovelling before I had the chance to say anything about the bet.

"Sorry if you're not happy that we were betting on you guys, but it was just a bit of fun! I'm so happy for you two... It's good news!"

Tam wraps me in a hug unexpectedly as she seemed to bubble over in a fluster of excitement, quickly losing control of her actions.

"It is good news, isn't it?" I consider with a smile as the younger girl releases me from her arms and the embrace, allowing me the freedom to shoot a glance up to the other, and only male party involved in the excitement.

Looking back, it's incredible to consider my journey over the last few months.

I had gone from a point in my life of extreme uncertainty and turmoil with the death of my father. Initially, I had failed to deal with his death and save myself from the blame that 'I could've done something more' to help him, when really, it could not be further from my fault.

Dad's death in our home meant two things. One, I could no longer live in the residence that I'd spent roughly my last six or so years living when it became a shell of the former home I loved before he had died. Secondly, it also meant that even if I found a roommate, a companion of some sort and recreated the homely state, I would never be able to forget the fact I had seen my father lying on the ground, a long way passed alive when I returned home from defusing after our fight.

The domino-effect of dad's passing and the location of such lead to so much more... I never knew that within a few months of living with Zane and Will I would manage to find some sort of a way to deal with the death, then more than that, be able to help Bella when she was the one at the weakest point, having fled from her boyfriend Daniel's abuse the first time before returning to the scumbag. The Bella scenario had nothing on the bombshell that detonated the minute that Tam arrived on our doorstep, claiming to be a sister I had never known, never heard of and never even considered to possibly exist.

In many ways, I've progressed. I've made my way through pain that I didn't even believe could be bearable. I'd been a support, a friend and a help when I was needing to receive all of that just as much as Bella needed it. I've worked through the hatred and my intense feelings that had boiled over with the arrival of Tam, but extended right back to my unresolved mother-issues and the fact that I had never dealt with failing to receive any closure as she left me and my father selfishly for a life on her own.

However, now as I look up, to the man now wrapped around me and note not only have I progressed, I've also managed to _digress_... I've moved ahead, yet ended back up at square one with the man that is so perfect for me, yet so mismatched to me, all-in-one.

It's funny how life works out.

Just as with Zane, I had no way of ever picking that my life's journey –the good and the bad- would lead me to where I am, right now. My life is so, so far from perfect, but it's my life, my journey and sometimes being far from perfection can be _absolutely_ perfect.

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><p><strong>And that is THE END! <strong>

**Can I just say the biggest, most grateful thank you to everyone who has supported my work with this. Every reader, every reviewer, thank you. I really, really hope that you all enjoyed this journey in Far From Perfection as much as I enjoyed writing it.**

**Even though this is the final chapter of the first Far From Perfection, I haven't marked it as complete yet because before I post the sequel, I will post a trivia chapter, with a range of sorts of facts and statistics throughout the writing of Far From Perfection that I hope you will find interesting! Also, it will feature a few teasers for the sequel! **

**THANK YOU! xoxo **

**P.S. Don't forget to check out the tumblr page! **


	40. Trivia, Statistics & Sequel Sneak Peeks

**Based on all the positive feedback I received from my readers and reviewers on the last chapter, it seems that everyone loved the ending, so I'm glad you all (hopefully haha) enjoyed it! Normally I find ending things hard, but I was surprised how easily that one came to me. **

**Before I begin, I do have one big question that I want to put to everyone. I can't decide whether to start with and make a brand new story to post the sequel on (which would make sense), or whether to combine the first and the second story by just continuing to post the chapters of the sequel here (which would be easier in cases if you wanted to check or look up something that was in the first story). Anyway, so let me know whether you think I should post it as a new story or just continue it on this one? **

**Any hoo, I'm about to get ready for my 2014 Logie Awards date night... Fingers crossed Steve Peacocke will pick up a gold & silver! Getting a hug from the guy and seeing him shirtless in the flesh sorta makes you barrack for him, trust me! **

**Enjoy the stats, trivia and what's to come!**

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><p><strong>FAR FROM PERFECTION STATS:<strong>

- Currently, _Far From Perfection_ has had over 25,200 views.

- Currently, the average number of reviews for this story is around 14 per chapter. I thought I would be lucky to GET 14 reviews when I first posted this.

- 4 months (roughly) were spent planning this story, although more detailed planning was an ongoing process while I was writing it.

- If I calculate the number of views and times this story has been read since it was uploaded it is being read roughly 23 times a day... Far out.

- I have written this story in 3 different countries and 4 different states of Australia (NSW, Vic., Qld. & SA).

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><p><strong>FAR FROM PERFECTION TRIVIA:<strong>

- This story all actually started with its title, after I thought of it while walking along the beach in a town in southern Sydney.

- Many phrases or quotes have been inspired by remarks from my own friends.

- Most chapters are actually named after _Packed to the Rafters_ episodes.

- Although I do not live in New South Wales, Far From Perfection's concept was born there and I actually finished writing the last chapter there too!

- Allie was originally never going to be Bella _or_ Will's daughter. (Before I changed my mind, there is one REALLY big clue early on that indicates this, so kudos if you worked that out, but I'm not telling what it was...)

- Lewis's GBS plot was only added to the planning about halfway through when I listened to a interview on the radio with a woman whose fiancé had been through it. Originally more work and money related issues were going to play out for Cleo and Lewis.

- About a year into writing Far From Perfection, Indiana Evans starred in a TV series with the actor (Todd Lasance) I had always envisioned as Daniel, and after filming wrapped, I also remember reading rumours that the two were a couple which was a bit coincidental!

- Only about a month ago I realised that Cariba Heine and the actress who is my inspiration for Tam have actually played sisters onscreen before.

- Allie's name came from my friend's 8 year old daughter telling me to name a character after her when I told her I was writing a story. Allie's name was originally going to be Summer.

- The hardest chapter for me to write was chapter 34/35. It was satisfying, but I had to do so much research, capture so much emotion and look into so many different perspectives of the situation. After much time spent in writing the monster of Dan, I had to let a little of the human part of him and his own fragility seep through, while keeping it just and without excusing his actions. Also, chapter 30 was really hard as there is absolutely no dialogue, aside from a few of Cleo's one-sided comments since it was from Lewis's POV while he could not speak yet.

- I mention Reece Mastin (a popular singer in Australia) and mention a song of his in the final chapter and the day after I wrote it I actually saw him out for dinner as he sat on the table next to us with his girlfriend Rhiannon Fish (actress who plays April from Home and Away also) and her family.

- Amy was going to originally be a far nastier character than what she was. I just made her out to become a bit of a creep instead haha.

- Last year, I would sacrifice a sleep-in and go into school earlier than I had to twice a week to be able to have 2 hours of uninterrupted writing time. That's dedication!

- Zella (Zane/Bella) was originally going to happen in this story!

- I am the most proud of chapters 17 (because it was a very different, but welcome change to try and portray each character, their relationships and interactions in the hospital all through Zane's POV) and chapter 19/20 (because there had been so, so much planning, forethought and work in the making that went into that chapter and I am quite happy with how it came across).

- I chose to do my major assignment in my Health class on domestic abuse to be able to do an in-depth investigation on the mental, emotional and physical sides of the issue before writing the heaviest content of Bella and Daniel's abusive relationship.

- My favourite chapters to write were probably the first Will and Zane chapters (2 & 4) as it was such a new beginning in this story and I just really enjoyed establishing those two characters and their interactions with Rikki and Bella as well as making their friendship my own as quite a different spin from the TV show.

The final piece of trivia is...

- When I first thought of the title and the plot, I had no idea whether I would even write this story, let alone if anyone would be favourable to this story! But, as of the posting of this chapter, _Far From Perfection_ is currently the THIRD most reviewed H2O story on FanFiction. I am in disbelief.

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><p><strong>So, what's to come in the sequel? (SPOOF)<strong>

Honestly, I am living in so many TV fandom worlds, that at this stage, with all my other influences, this is what I believe will happen in the sequel...:

The seven or so main characters will be bumped up to like 30 main characters (courtesy of _Home and Away_).

Allie will end up dead, Lewis turns out to be her father, and is accused of murdering her (courtesy of _Secrets and Lies_).

Then the murder case will end up being connected to like four or five other crimes going through thr court at the time (courtesy of _Janet King_).

Then all the main characters decide to move to a small town where their lives are infiltrated by strange and quirky individuals and Friday night dinners (courtesy of _Gilmore Girls_).

Then they will enter a cooking competition where a few catty rivalries are born and focused on more than the food is (courtesy of _My Kitchen Rules_).

This leads every character to have a vendetta and their own agenda against everyone else (courtesy of _Revenge_).

And finally every character becomes a farmer (courtesy of _McLeod's Daughters_)!

... So if my current television-watching influences are anything to go by, that is exactly what will happen in the sequel haha! I watch way too much TV.

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><p><strong>Seriously though, this is what's to come...<strong>

- A man who shows up with a connection to one of the girl's, turns another character's life upside down.

- Everyone is left astounded by the strength of Allie's powers, a nightmare for Bella and Will, as they begin to develop.

- Rikki and Zane are forced to live with the repercussions of an impulsive decision.

- When two characters are put on the path of temptation, who will succumb?

- A threat to a character's health sends them on a downward spiral.

- A forbidden relationship develops.

- Will Rikki, or anyone, discover Tam's dark secret?

- Who's snap decision threatens to jeopardise and destroy his or her relationship?

- When a natural disaster hits the Coast, reckless decisions hit the fan, putting every girl and their shared secret at risk.

- Which five familiar faces return?

- And, a new point of view will be introduced.

...

(Sorry Clewis lovers, I can't say too much about their plot as it's very difficult to allude to without giving it all away, but rest assured they do have one main storyline, as does everyone else, as well a few secondary storylines.)

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><p>Last but not least, thank you.<p>

... Thank you! Thank you my marvellous, cherished and absolutely phenomenal readers and reviewers. I am truly grateful for every word of good and bad advice, feedback and admonition. I hope you've enjoyed reading this journey as much as I have enjoyed writing it.

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><p><strong>Don't forget to let me know whether you think I should post the sequel by posting a new story on FanFiction, or whether I should just keep on posting in this story file! <strong>

**Also, don't forget to check out the Tumblr blog I made to visually aid this story... Oh and for sneak peeks, too! ;) The link for that is (without them spaces!) at: ffpstory . tumblr . com **

**Plus on my YouTube account (also CheddarFetta), I have uploaded a video trailer for _Far From Perfection 2_! Either search my account or check out the Tumblr page for the direct video :)**

**Until the sequel, ****CheddarFetta xox ****  
><strong>


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